Dragons catch Petaluma, win tourney title

After helping lead the Sonoma Valley High School varsity baseball boys to an 11-1 record and a Sonoma County League co-championship by posting a 7-0 pitching mark with five shutouts, junior ace Maclean Meyn had a rare off-mound outing in last Thursday night’s SCL Tournament title game at Arnold Field.

Trailing fellow SCL co-champion Petaluma 4-1 after five innings, the Dragons rallied back to take the lead with a six-run sixth inning, then found themselves tied and headed into extra innings, where they tallied one ninth-inning run to win 8-7 and capture the SCL Tourney title.

The young Dragon boys were fueled by lead-off hitting sophomore Ethan Vitale’s four-for-five with one run scored; senior CJ Vitale’s three-for-four with one RBI and a run; sophomore Shane O’Malley’s two-for-four with three RBIs and one run, as well as picking up the win in relief; sophomore Carson Snyder’s single, RBI and run; senior Kyle Dunevent’s single and RBI; and a run each by Meyn, senior Kyle Garcia and junior Nico DeTorres.

Rounding out Sonoma’s postseason roster – directed by head coach Don Lyons and assistant coaches Mario Alioto, Brian Alden, Nate Rowland and Jon Koepp – are seniors Seth August, Thomas Crumly, Abel Fragoza and Jack Hart; juniors Will Lennon, Spencer McNairy, Joe Peterson and Max Yankovich; and sophomores Noah Cess, Colton Mertens and Mac Scott.

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The SCL co-champion Dragons, who have a 16-9 overall record, continue postseason play as the sixth-seed for the North Coast Section championship playoffs, and they will host 11th-seed Eureka (14-11, HDNL champion) in a 7 p.m. NCS Division-3 opening-round clash tonight at Arnold Field.

Tonight’s winner will play the victor of tomorrow evening’s Wednesday, May 27, NCS first round game between third-seed Sir Francis Drake (16-10, MCAL) and 14th-seed Encinal (8-16, WACC-S) at the higher seed’s home field either Friday or Saturday night, May 29 or 30.

Rounding out the NCS Division-3 opening-round matchups are top-seed Acalanes (16-8, DFAL champion) hosting 16th-seed Ygnacio Valley (10-13-1, DVAL); second-seed San Marin (15-10, MCAL) hosting 15th-seed De Anza (14-10, TCAL-S); fourth-seed Tamalpais (16-9, MCAL) hosting Piner (13-12, SCL); fifth-seed Alhambra (15-9, DFAL) hosting 12th-seed El Cerrito (12-11-2, TCAL-R); seventh-seed Miramonte (14-10, DFAL) hosting 10th-seed Del Norte (13-12, HDNL-Big 4); and eighth-seed Albany (15-10, TCAL-R) hosting ninth-seed Analy (13-12, SCL).