Sports briefs: Sonoma Valley High School’s athletics

A walk-off victory

Kyra Hudson played the hero on April 12, scoring Kassidy Midgley from third base on a single to left field to win the game for Sonoma Valley’s league matchup against Napa. The 9-8 win wasn’t just because of Hudson’s heroics, but because of a strong performance from the heart of the Dragons’ lineup that fueled several rallies.

Led by Midgely, the Dragons combined for 15 hits in 30 at-bats, driving in nine runs in the process. Midgely would finish the game with four hits in four at-bats, including a two-run home run in the bottom of the fifth that put Sonoma Valley on top 7-5.

Midgely also took on the majority of the pitching responsibilities for the Dragons, throwing 103 pitches across six innings. She surrendered 10 hits, but only three of her eight runs were counted as earned.

Sonoma Valley struggled on defense, committing three errors that would give Napa enough momentum to keep working back into the game. Four of Midgely’s five unearned runs were the result of errors in the fifth and sixth innings.

Baseball team seeks redemption

Coming off of two more losses to Casa Grande and Vacaville over the weekend, the Dragons baseball team enter this week on a six-game slide.

Sonoma Valley hasn’t scored more than three runs in a single game during that streak, and turning their offense around will be a key factor in returning to their early season glory.

Apart from their loss to Casa Grande, the Dragons haven’t struggled too much on the mound. Their ERA during this six-game stretch has been 5.52, but excluding the blowout loss to the Gauchos drops that ERA to 4.375, nearly as low as their season ERA of 4.23.

On the other hand, their offense has fallen from a team batting average of .258 to just .228 as a team during these six games.

If Sonoma Valley can bring its bats back to life this week, they could make a late run to sneak into a playoff spot by the end of season. On Tuesday, they took on Hercules, but the results were not available by press time.

Team loss overshadowed by exceptional individual performances

Though the girls and boys bare bones track and field teams took losses of 77-32 and 87-18 on Tuesday afternoon against American Canyon, the Dragons thrived on exceptional individual performances as measures of success.

Sophomore Siena Hoban and Adam Tovar each won two events, with both of them winning the mile run. Tovar finished the mile in 5:08.61, then won in the two-mile event with a time of 11:54.74.

Hoban won the mile with a time of 5:29.06, two minutes ahead of the next finisher in the event. In the 800, Siena placed first ahead of her sister, Lilianna Hoban, who clocked in a personal best 2:42.99 for a second place finish.

Lilianna was everywhere in the meet; placing in three other events besides the 800 run, competing in the 100 hurdles, long jump and triple jump, setting three personal bests in the process. She won the long jump with a 15’7”, finished in second in the triple jump with a 30’7.5”, and placed third in the 100 hurdles with a 19.16 time.

Seniors Ty Giller and Daniel Rico each ran in the 800, with Giller finishing in second and Rico in third. Rico set a personal best 2:27.18 while Giller ran a 2:26.91.

Giller would also run in the two-mile with Tovar, finishing second behind the sophomore with a personal best 13:58.76 time. Rico would also compete in the shot put, placing third with a throw of personal best 25’2”.

Among the rest of the girls squad, their largest contributions from athletes not named Siena or Lilianna came in the field events.

Junior Lola Martin placed first in the high jump with a 5’ jump, and senior Naomi Aho finished third in the shot put with a 20’8.5” toss.

Sophie Jenks placed third with a 27’7” in the triple jump and personal best 12’5” in the long jump.

Sonoma Valley will travel to Santa Rosa for the Viking Track Classic at Montgomery High School, a meet that will include nearly fifty teams from around the north bay.