Dragons end scoreless streak

But fall to Casa, 13-6; host Cloverdale at Arnold Field tonight|

After being shut out the last two games, the Sonoma Valley High boys baseball Dragons put six runs on the board Wednesday against longtime foe Casa Grande.

Unfortunately Casa put up 13 and walked away with a 13-6 win.

'It was like three different games,' said Dragon Coach Don Lyons. 'Casa won the first third, we won the second third and Casa won the last third.'

Casa put five runs on the board in the top of the second. The Dragons got one back in the bottom of the second when senior Shane O'Malley walked, went to second on a wild throw and scored on a base hit by senior Will Lennon. Casa countered with another run in the top of the third.

But the Dragons exploded for five runs in the bottom of the third. Junior Carson Snyder walked to start the inning, junior Colton Mertens singled, O'Malley was safe on a fielder's choice loading the bases for senior MacLean Meyn, who doubled in two runs. Senior Joe Peterson then singled scoring Meyn and O'Malley. Later, Junior Mac Scott scored knotting the game at 6-6.

Neither team got anything going in the fourth.

Then the roof fell in on the Dragons as Casa sent 12 men to the plate in the top of the fifth, and six of them scored.

'We shot ourselves in the foot,' Lyons said. 'I went over with the team what we needed to do.'

On the night, the Dragons committed five errors and only three of Casa's 13 runs were earned.

'Our biggest problem is that we haven't put together a full game with defense, offense and pitching,' he said, 'although we started swinging at better pitches in the zone.'

'We're hurting ourselves at the beginning of innings,' he said. 'We started the second with an error and that opened the floodgates. And in the fifth, we just kept making mistakes.'

He said the Dragon defense has been pretty good lately, but it imploded Wednesday night.

'We're trying to instill in them that playing catch is more than just a drill,' he said. 'You have to catch the ball and then play catch with somebody.'

'We have to take better care of the ball,' he said.

In Wednesday's game, the Dragons had six hits, although Meyn's double was the only extra-base hit. Meyn and Peterson both had two RBIs.

The loss drops the Dragons to 3-5 on the season.

Tonight, Friday, March 25, the Dragons entertain Cloverdale at 7 p.m. at Arnold Field.

Sonoma starts league play Tuesday when the Dragons travel to El Molino.

The Lady Dragon softball team managed only on run and fell to Maria Carrillo 9-1 on Wednesday. Junior Hayden Pearce had two hits while sophomore Molly Brown and junior Isabel Hernandez each had one. The loss drops the Lady Dragons to 3-3.

Sonoma travels to Ukiah today, Friday, for a weekend tournament that runs through Saturday.

The Lady Dragons open league play against El Molino on Thursday, March 31, at the high school field. Game time is 4 p.m.

Email bill at bill.hoban@sonomanews.com

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