Girls lacrosse claims first-ever victory

The girls lacrosse program lost in its Thursday match against Vintage but was able to notch their first win as a program Friday in their match against Marin Academy, winning 8-7.

The girl lacrosse program, in its inaugural season, is a roster of largely inexperienced athletes with just two players, Julia Lage and Kerry James, coming into the season with significant experience playing lacrosse.

In their loss to Vintage, the Dragons struggled to score goals but demonstrated enormous grit on the defensive end, allowing seven goals — the lowest amount the Dragons have allowed all season.

While taking a hiatus during Sonoma Valley’s spring break, the squad will return to action on Tuesday, March 22 for a road match against Napa at 7 p.m.

Dragons baseball loses to San Marin, 4-2

Despite their best efforts to course-correct after a rough first inning, the Dragons couldn’t muster enough offensive firepower to defeat the Mustangs on Saturday night, losing 4-2.

The Mustangs got to starting pitcher Nick Sebastiani early in the game, tagging him for a series of doubles and singles to jump ahead 4-0 in the first two innings.

Replacing Sebastiani in the middle of the second inning was senior Landon Waldrop. Waldrop managed to steady the ship, pitching 5.2 shutout innings and giving his team a chance to make its way back into the game.

But the Dragons struggled to get any rhythm at the plate, scoring just two unearned runs in the fourth and seventh innings. The Mustangs attempted to turn a double play in the fourth innning, but threw the ball away creating a scoring opportunity for the Dragons. On second base was Waldrop, who ran around third base and scored as the ball scooted under the first baseman’s glove. In the seventh, sophomore Beau Jurasek drew a walk, advanced to third on a botched pick-off attempt and scored on a groundout by Nick Sebastiani.

San Marin (4-2-1) won on the back of senior starting pitcher Andrew Henderson, who surrendered one unearned run in six innings of work while striking out seven Sonoma Valley batters.

“It felt like, as a team, we were starting to click and play Sonoma baseball - realizing, when we do, we can hang around with any top-tier team,” Waldrop said.

More than anything, Waldrop’s excellent relief finish of the game and the clean defensive effort proved the potential of this Sonoma Valley (2-4) team.

"There was a spark and energy that our team had that was utterly special,” Waldrop said. “We must establish that early in the season, especially for the younger guys on the squad.”

Sonoma Valley is slated to play Bishop O’Dowd on Friday, March 18 at 7 p.m. at Arnold Field for its seventh straight home game under the lights.

Dragon boys tennis regroups with win over American Canyon

Sonoma Valley boys tennis (1-2) was winless entering its match against American Canyon, but managed to walk away with a 5-2 victory because of their strong singles play.

American Canyon was forced to forfeit the second and third doubles due to their small roster size. In actual match ups, the Dragons ended with a 3-2 advantage. All three wins came in the singles matches, courtesy of Sky Staes, Joey Fiorito and Noah Richards.

The Dragons had gone scoreless in their first two matches the previous Wednesday and Tuesday, losing to Vintage and Petaluma without winning a single set.

"It was a challenging week for the Dragons,” head coach Walt Williams said in a press release. “But the win against American Canyon encouraged the young team to keep improving. Excellent play by Richards, who won in a third set tiebreaker against American Canyon."

Richards lost his first set against Andrew Camchola 3-6, and worked from behind to win the next two 6-1 and 10-6 to claim a decisive victory for the Dragons.

Sonoma Valley is scheduled to have a match against St. Vincent on Wednesday, March 23 following the spring break.

Softball takes another double-digit loss, loses 15-4 to Marin Catholic

Though it looked like the Dragons had recovered from their blowout to the Jaguars, pitching and defense once again proved to be the deciding factors.

In a war of attrition, Sonoma Valley (2-3) withstood inning after inning of batting pressure from Marin Catholic (4-0), allowing at least a run through all seven innings.

The Dragons’ pitching staff surrendered 16 hits for nine earned runs, but managed to limit the number of walks to five. On the offensive end, Sonoma Valley also struggled to collect hits, but Victoria Magnani was a rare bright spot, earning half of the team’s six hits.

Sonoma Valley will play its next game on Wednesday, March 23 against Cardinal Newman at home at 4 p.m.

Boys lacrosse loses season-opener to Christian Brothers

While excited for their inaugural game, the excitement of the Dragons couldn’t produce enough offense or defense as they lost to the Falcons 15-2.

Sonoma Valley (0-1) is scheduled to play their next game on Wednesday, March 16 at 7 p.m. against Terra Linda at home.

Contact the reporter Caleb Logue at calebjlogue@gmail.com