Sonoma spots Petaluma 3-run lead, falls

Wait for North coast Section seedings Sunday|

Wednesday wasn’t a good day to be a Dragon.

In the afternoon, the Sonoma Valley High Lady Dragon softballers lost a 6-5 decision to Petaluma in the Sonoma County League Tournament, while the Petaluma baseball boys completed the sweep that evening beating the Dragons, 6-4, also in the SCL tourney.

Even though the game was being played at Arnold Field, the Dragons found themselves in the role as visitors since Petaluma had the higher seed.

The Dragons mounted a mild threat in the first when, with two outs, senior Carson Snyder walked and senior Shane O’Malley singled. But they were left stranded when senior Colton Mertens struck out.

Snyder, who is Sonoma’s ace pitcher, was wild all night and the Trojans, in the bottom of the first, scored three runs before the first out was recorded.

The Dragons got on the board in the top of the third when senior Ethan Vitale walked and reached third on an infield error and scored on a wild pitch.

In the fourth, the Dragons pared another run off the Petaluma lead when junior Dylan Samaniego singled and scored on sophomore Tucker Pierce’s double, and Sonoma was down 3-2.

But that didn’t last long as the Trojans used a walk, a single, and a double to put two more runs on the board and take a 5-2 lead.

Sonoma scored another run in the fifth and had the bases loaded. With two outs, Snyder walked and went to second when O’Malley walked. Snyder scored when Mertens singled. When Samaniego walked, it loaded the bases, but junior Joe Perez struck out leaving them loaded.

Dragon Coach Don Lyons had to pull Snyder after the fourth inning because he was closing in on his 110-pitch count limit. Junior Dom Chiotti relieved Snyder and put the Trojans down in order in the fifth.

The Dragons narrowed the margin to a single run again, 5-4, in the top of the sixth when Pierce reached on an error, took second on a wild pitch, and scored from third when sophomore Logan Mak grounded out to the second baseman.

But Petaluma scored another run in their half of the sixth on two walks an infield hit and a sacrifice fly to give the Trojans a 6-4 lead.

In the seventh, Samaniego singled with two outs, but that was all the offense the Dragons could muster and they went down 6-4.

The loss drops the Dragons to a 14-10 record. The Dragons will have to wait until the North Coast Section seedings are announced Sunday to see who they’re playing next.

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