Diamond Dragons get walk-off win during pitchers duel

It was Jeremy Mackling's night as he drives in the winning run, too.|

It was Jeremy Mackling’s night.

Tuesday, the senior right-hander scattered six hits, and in the bottom of the seventh, hit a walk-off single driving in the winning run as the Sonoma Valley High Dragons beat the Analy Tigers, 2-1.

Mackling and Analy pitcher Tyler Stasiowski locked up in a pitcher’s duel in a game that only took an hour-and-a-half. Mackling struck out 10 and walked only one and gave up one unearned run while Stasiowski struck out nine and walked only one.

Sonoma Coach Ian Slaney was pumped after the game.

“Jeremy threw an amazing game,” he said. “He was throwing strikes. And he gets the game-winning hit. It doesn’t get any better than that.”

“It was a great game if you like pitching,” he continued. “Both pitchers were throwing strikes.”

The tone was set in the first inning as the two pitchers used strikeouts to record five of the six outs.

“I felt good,” Mackling said. “I had my curve ball working and that was the key tonight.”

Both the Tigers and the Dragons got base hits in the second, but neither runner got any further than first.

Analy got on the board in the second on a single with the runner advancing to second on an error. He later scored on a second error and the Tigers had a 1-0 lead.

In the fourth, both teams went three-up-and-three-down. Analy got a man as far as second in the fifth on a walk and a stolen base.

In the bottom of the sixth, Sonoma’s Carsten Cuda reached on an infield hit and advanced to third when Max Handron singled. Handron stole second giving the Dragons their best chance to score with runners on second and third. But Sonoma couldn’t plate either runner.

In the seventh, Mackling struck out the side, giving up a double with two outs.

In the Dragon half of the seventh, Kole Morgan reached first on an error, moved to second when Austin Arrington walked and scored the tying run when Cuda singled. Mackling then hit a bullet past the first baseman and Arrington scored the winning run.

“I was looking to hit something toward the hole,” Mackling said. “I got an outside pitch and went with it.”

Slaney was proud of the way the team didn’t quit after two losses in a row.

“We made a couple of errors, but they didn’t quit,” he said. “We’ve been down, but …”

After two losses, Slaney also shook up his batting order and put Cuda in left field and Morgan at first base.

“We needed to shake things up,” he said. “I put Jeremy (Mackling) at the top of the order.”

The win gives the Dragons a 5-6 overall record and a 1-1 SCL record. The Dragons are at El Molino today, Friday, March 30, for a late-afternoon game.

Sonoma will be off next week because of spring break. The Dragons return to action on Tuesday, April 10, at Elsie Allen.

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