Redwood Baseball

3/31/23:  It was a new day for the Redwood Varsity Baseball Giants. Coming off of a dispiriting 12-inning loss to the Archie Williams Peregrine Falcons in San Anselmo the night before, the Giants returned home to Moody Field and righted the ship, besting the Falcons 3-0.

Starting Giants pitcher Rex Solle, having walked in the winning run the prior evening, came back with a vengeance, striking out 13 Falcons and allowing only three hits over 6 1/3 innings. Most impressively, Solle issued zero walks, and came out of the game due only to pitch count limitation.

The Giants got on the board in the bottom of the 3^rd, when third baseman Lucas Ghio reached on an error, then stole second. With one out, Solle stood in, facing Falcon starting pitcher Sam Black, the same Falcon he had walked the night before to close out the game.

Putting the past aside, Solle helped himself with a blooper that dropped into shallow right field. Solle rounded first and raced into second as Falcon right fielder Luca Genovese stood paralyzed in hesitation, holding the ball not 50 feet away from Solle, apparently wary of Ghio rounding third.

It was especially satisfying for Solle to fly right past the stymied Genovese, who had scored two of the Falcons’ three runs the night before, including the winning run in the 12^th.

With Giants now on second and third, first baseman Rory Minty hit a sharp grounder to second baseman Jack Evans, who was able to hold the runners and throw Minty out at first. And when shortstop Danil Wells hit another grounder to Evans, it felt like this might be turning into yet another of the Giants’ wasted threats from the last two days. After all, Redwood hadn’t scored a run in 13 innings, stranding 18 runners over that stretch.  But this time, fortune smiled on the Giants. Evans couldn’t handle Wells’s hard-hit grounder, and, when he picked it up, decided to throw it home instead of throwing to first or simply holding the ball. As Ghio was sliding in to score, Evans’ throw skipped past the outstretched backhand of catcher Gilly Roth, clattering around the backstop, and allowing Solle to race in and score as well, making it 2-0 Giants. Wells let out a huge whoop as he stood on second. It felt like the drought was over.

Evans, as if hurrying to complete his penance, handled a grounder from Giants center fielder Gavin Soper on the very next pitch for out number three, then led off the top of the 4^th, hitting the first pitch he saw into left field for a single.  Giants left fielder Tyler Sofnas, running in on the grounder, ran past the ball, letting it roll all the way to the fence, while Evans continued to third.

With no outs and Evans on third, Solle found his groove, rearing back to strike out the heart of the Falcon order and end the inning, then coming back in the 5^th to strike out the side again.

The Giants tacked on an insurance run in the 6^th, amidst more Falcon miscues. Soper walked, then took second on a botched pickoff attempt which hit him in the back. Catcher Rory Coughlan grounded to shortstop, reaching when Falcon freshman August Block’s throw pulled first baseman Ryan Smith-Stewart off the bag, putting runners on first and third with one out.

As Giants right fielder Jack Moseley stood in, Black unloaded a wild pitch to score Soper and send Coughlan to second, making It 3-0. Then, there was a kind of déjà vu, as Moseley hit a sharp grounder to third baseman Henry Hanavan, who held the runner, but also pulled Smith-Stewart off the bag with his throw, marking Archie’s 5^th error of the game. This call took an umpire conference to decide, but in the end they got it right.

Solle came out firing in the top of the 7^th, striking out Smith-Stewart for his 13^thK, and pushing for the complete game. But when Roth fouled off three pitches on a 2-2 count, then flipped a flare into right field..

Coach Firenzi brought in Jerry Omara, the Baller from Kampala, to close things out, and Omara blew a fastball by pinch-hitter Jake Barnes for out number two. 

Redwood fans, on the edge of their seats, grew a tad uncomfortable when the pesky Genovese lined a screamer down the right field line for a double, putting runners on second and third, and bringing the tying run to the plate in the form of left fielder Jackson Oliver-Roa. However, Omara got Oliver-Roa to pop up in foul ground behind first base, where Minty ranged back and made the play, ending the game.

With the win, the Giants move to 11-2 on the year (7-1 MCAL), and split their season series with Archie Williams. Solle leads the team in batting with a .405 average, and has now struck out 52 batters in just over 30 innings pitched. Trono’s average is back up to .374, with Wells and Sofnas both at .333, and Coughlan at .324. Wells and Minty share the team lead in RBIs with 7. The top of the order continues to fly, with Trono and Solle scoring 11 and 10 runs respectively on the year, and Trono stealing 14 bases, with Solle and Soper at 7 each.

 The Giants gear up for a busy week ahead, with five games scheduled starting Tuesday at home against the Terra Linda Trojans of San Rafael. Redwood then embarks on a 3-day tournament in the East Bay, starting noon Thursday at the Foothill High Falcons of Pleasanton.

3/17/23:  A day after outlasting their crosstown rivals in a seesaw, 9-inning fight to the finish, the Redwood Varsity Baseball Giants and starting pitcher Rex Solle delivered the heat on Friday, walking away from the Tam High Red-Tailed Hawks 5-1, and sweeping their season series.

Solle tossed a complete game for his first win of the season, striking out 11 Hawks while allowing just 6 hits and not issuing a single walk. Solle got stronger as the game went on, blowing fastballs through the zone in the bottom of the 7^th to strike out the side and end the game.

Things weren’t so clear-cut at the start of Solle’s outing, as Tam loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the 1^st. Shortstop Kaldon Dossa led off by raking a single into left field, followed by second baseman Colin Lam’s double into the gap in left center. Solle then proceeded to drill designated hitter Charlie Blau in the back, loading the bases with center fielder Carson Frame striding to the plate.

When Frame launched a ball high and deep into left center, it looked like the Giants were in for a long day. Redwood center fielder Gavin Soper, battling the afternoon sun, scurried back to make an outstanding play just in front of the wall. The ball was plenty deep enough to score Dossa, giving Tam the early lead 1-0, and leaving runners on first and third. 

Then, as if Soper’s effort had flipped a switch in Solle’s brain, the junior right-hander stepped up his game, freezing third baseman Tyler Buxton with a curveball on the outside corner, then caught first baseman Colin Day with a changeup to retire the side. The Hawks never threatened again the entire afternoon.

After bunting successfully in key situations throughout the year, and defeating the Hawks the night before on a celebrated squeeze play, it came as no surprise when the Giants began laying it down again to take the lead in the top of the 3^rd.

Second baseman Theo Trono, batting left-handed against Hawks starting pitcher Eli Solem, led off by dragging a bunt down the first base line into no-man’s land. Solem reached the ball, then looked up to flip to Day at first, only to discover that Day had joined him in no-man’s land, and that no one was covering the base! The speedy Trono cruised safely across the bag, avoiding Solem’s lunging tag with a dismissive shake of his hips. 

Next up, Solle watched as Tam botched a pitchout, a maneuver they had attempted unsuccessfully throughout the past two days. Trying to catch Trono off of first, Hawks catcher Tristan Diecks threw wildly past Day, putting Trono on second.

Solle then caught the Hawks off-guard by bunting down the third base line, forcing an unprepared Buxton to rush a sidearmed throw past Day, allowing Trono to race in and tie the score 1-1. First baseman Rory Minty followed with a single up the middle, and when Frame booted the ball out in center field, Solle came around as well, giving Redwood a lead they would never relinquish.

Solem then plunked DH Ben Resnick, bringing shortstop Danil Wells to the plate with no outs and runners on first and second. Wells, the squeeze hero from the night before, squared around boldly for the Giants’ third bunt of the inning, eliciting glee from the Redwood dugout when Solem fielded the ball on the third base side, then threw it high to Day. Wells crossed first while Day was still in the air leaping for the throw, loading the bases with nobody out. 

That was enough for Solem on the day, and the Hawks decided to try their luck with reliever Henry Simpson. Simpson got Giants left fielder Tyler Sofnas to hit a high fly ball to left center, where Frame camped under it for the out, then dropped the ball on the transfer, allowing Minty to score, and making it 3-1.

Simpson seemed to find some kind of rewind button, as he got Soper and catcher Rory Coughlan to fly out to Frame in the exact same spot on successive pitches. Frame didn’t drop the ball again either time, and the runners remained stranded.

Solle continued to pick up steam on the mound, bolstered by a couple of sweet double plays. In the bottom of the 3^rd and 5th, Redwood third baseman Lucas Ghio moved to his left to snare Blau’s topspin grounder off the short hop, firing across to Trono to start a 5-4-3 double play and end the inning.  Later, in the bottom of the 5^th, Solle helped himself by grabbing Lam’s comebacker and wheeling to second, where Wells turned it to Minty for a 1-6-3 sitdown pair.

Meanwhile, the Giants had loaded the bases with no outs in the top of the 5^th, but were retired on one of the most unusual doubles plays in recent memory. Hawks reliever Jack Hanna didn’t last long, walking Resnick before unleashing a pair of wild pitches, walking Wells, and hitting Sofnas to load the bases. The Hawks then yanked Hanna for Jonathan Bayler (a former Giant), who got Soper to ground to Day, who chose to get the force at home for out number one.

With the bases still loaded and Wells on third, Coughlan skied a towering popup halfway up the third base line, initiating mass confusion all around. First, Bayler tried to call off his teammates for the catch, before thinking better of it, and leaving the ball to Diecks, who whiffed on the catch, letting the ball land just inside the line. Thinking that another force situation had been created, Wells started home, where Bayler rushed to take a throw from Diecks, but stretched to handle the ball with his foot off the plate. With chaos erupting all around him, Bayler threw back to third to catch Wells, whereupon half of the Hawks began to leave the field, and the other half yelled at them to stay put, because “There are only two outs!” Finally, the ump told them all to get off of the field.

What had happened? As the umps eventually decided, the Infield Fly Rule applied on the play, which meant that Coughlin had been out from the moment he hit the ball the way he did. And because it was an infield fly, runners advance at their own risk, but because Wells had gone, he was now the third out, and Redwood had left three men stranded.

The Giants did manage to pad their lead in the top of the 7^th, as Resnick started things off with a hard-hit ball that handcuffed Dossa. Jack Corvi, running for Resnick, took second on yet another beautiful bunt by Wells, then came in to score on a Sofnas single to center, making it 4-1. Soper followed with a ball that caromed off the mound – and Bayler’s foot – to Lam, who threw it away, leaving runners on first and third with one out.

Noting perhaps that every Giants run on the day had been scored or set up on a bunt, Giants Head Coach Mike Firenzi called the squeeze again, sending Corvi, who easily made it 5-1 on Coughlan’s tap down the third base line. A frustrated Buxton fielded the ball, and realizing no one was backing him up at third, turned and won a footrace with Soper, who had seen the same opening, and was understandably trying to advance.

There was no need for extra-inning heroics to finish the Hawks this time, as Solle saved his best for last, striking out the side in the bottom of the 7th, and ending with some serious smoke past Hawk right fielder Tito Fiersten. After opening with 27 pitches in the first inning, Solle had powered through the rest of the game at a rate of 12.5, all the while allowing zero walks.

The third Giants win in three days brings Redwood to 8-1 on the year (4-0 MCAL), and moves Coach Firenzi to 498 wins in his distinguished head coaching career. The Giants will try to add to those totals starting Tuesday, with an away-and-home series again the San Rafael Bulldogs, who currently sit last in the league with a record of 1-7 (0-6 MCAL).

3/07/23:  The Redwood Varsity Baseball Giants brought their A-game to Mark Whitburn Field in Novato on Tuesday, kicking off 2023 MCAL play and pinning a decisive win on the San Marin Mustangs by the score of 5-1. The Giants grabbed a 2-0 lead before a single out had been registered, then never looked back, riding the left arm of senior ace Rory Minty through all seven innings.  Minty scattered ten hits, but issued only one walk, and the Giant defense stood strong behind him, making play after play all day long.

Freshman second baseman Theo Trono greeted starting Mustang pitcher Sean McGrath with a bang, blasting a standup triple nearly to the wall in right center. Mustang outfielders Riley Desilva and Jake Whitlock converged near the ball, with right fielder Whitlock tumbling over a diving Desilva in spectacular fashion – such that it took several minutes to determine that both were unhurt.

Unimpressed with the delay, Redwood third baseman Rex Solle hammered a standup double into the other gap to score Trono, then scored himself on Minty’s twisting flare, which dropped just inside the left-field line and spun away from the field to the side wall. Down 2-0 with no outs, McGrath managed to compose himself and suppress the rally, inducing successive comebackers from first baseman Ben Resnick and shortstop Danil Wells.

Minty made short work of the Mustangs in the bottom of the inning, fanning shortstop Anthony Scheppler for the first of three times on the day (all swinging). The only fly in the ointment was Mustang first baseman Josh Martin, who hit Minty well all day. Martin laced a double into right field, just under the glove of a diving Jack Moseley, but was left stranded on Scheppler’s whiff.

San Marin managed their only run in the bottom of the 2^nd, when McGrath ripped a grounder over the bag at third, just out of the reach of a diving Solle, then advanced to third on a single by left fielder Jake Simpson. The Giants looked to be out of the inning when second baseman Joey Cipollini grounded straight to Wells with two outs, but Wells’s brief bobble allowed McGrath to score, and marked Redwood’s only error of the game.

Redwood responded in the top of the 3^rd, kicked off again by Trono, who singled to left, then stole both second and third. With the left-handed Minty stepping into the batter’s box, Redwood Head Coach Mike Firenzi decided to keep the party going, sending Trono racing home with the pitch on a good old-fashioned squeeze play. Minty executed his part perfectly, dropping a bunt just far enough towards first to clear the way for Trono, making it 3-1.

San Marin’s pesky Martin reached base again in the bottom of the inning on a blown call. On a routine grounder to first, Minty raced over to handle Resnick’s throw, beating Martin to the bag by a step. Unfortunately, the infield ump saw something else entirely, ruling that Minty’s foot had been off the base; a conference with his home plate counterpart revealed no further insight, so Martin had to be credited with a hit. Minty took out his discontent on Scheppler, fanning him again on 4 pitches, before handing the spotlight to Solle, who shut the Mustangs down by turning catcher Jon Holtz’s sharp grounder into a sweet 5-4-3 double play.

The Giants continued to demonstrate their bunting prowess in the 4^th, adding a run on center fielder Gavin Soper’s expert example. Soper’s precision tap started down the first base line like a confused tourist staring at a map, unsure whether to turn fair, foul, or to die right there on the line. The uncertainty flummoxed Holtz into firing the ball well into right field, scoring Wells, and extending Redwood’s lead, 4-1. Not surprisingly, Wells had reached second on a perfect sacrifice bunt by Giants catcher Rory Coughlan.

The Mustangs tested Minty in the bottom of the 5^th. In another close play at first, Minty leaped to snag Resnick’s high toss, then came down on the bag just ahead of Cipollini, his momentum sending both players tumbling to the ground. A bit shaken up, Minty issued his only walk of the game to Desilva, but Couglan quickly fixed the issue with a snap throw down to first. Resnick handled the rocket in front of the base in foul ground, sweeping a tag 180 degrees behind his back to complete the stylish pickoff.

Ever a threat, Martin followed by ripping a liner through the gap in left center for a double which would have certainly scored Desilva, who now sat on the bench thanks to Coughlan and Resnick. Martin’s shot was visibly rising as it passed just over the glove of a leaping Wells on the edge of the outfield grass. Fortunately, Minty’s favorite hitter Scheppler stood in next, and Minty struck him out again, swinging, to retire the side.

Minty helped pad his own lead in the bottom of the 7^th, pushing a ground ball past McGrath (now at second base), to plate Trono, and rounding out the scoring at 5-1. The speedy Trono had been drilled by Mustang reliever Erik Bach, then stolen second and reached third on a wild pitch. He finished with three runs and two hits on the day.

San Marin seemed done for in the bottom of the 7^th, when Minty finally retired Martin on a routine ground ball to Trono, forcing the Mustangs down their last out, with the hapless Scheppler coming up. Perhaps feeling generous, or overeager to close things out, Minty pegged Scheppler, then watched Holtz smash a double to the wall in right center.  

Soper and new right fielder Sam Gersch converged on the ball as Scheppler was rounding third with the green light from his coach. It was Gersch who got to the ball first, firing a strong throw in to Wells, who came over from short to collect the relay on the right-field grass, then wheeled around for what surely would be a close play at the plate.

Wells’s throw to Coughlan came in on one hop, slightly up the third base line, just as Scheppler arrived, sliding to his right and reaching out towards home plate with his left arm. Coughlan, smartly positioned just in front of the plate, slapped the tag on Scheppler’s arm with inches to spare, ending the game then and there. Wells, Minty, and Coughlan exulted as their teammates raced onto the field, while a dejected Sheppler trudged off into the sunset.

With the Giants now 5-1 on the year (1-0 MCAL), Coughlan leads all Giants hitters with a .438 average, ahead of Sofnas and Trono, who both stand at .353. Minty moves to 4-0, boasting 27 strikeouts against only 3 walks.

The Giants are scheduled to host the Mustangs Thursday afternoon in their rubber match, before battling Tam High next week home and away. However, following a record rainfall season, and with another “atmospheric river” fast approaching, it’s anybody’s guess how the upcoming schedule will actually shake out.

3/03/23:  One crooked inning was all it took for the Gauchos of Casa Grande High School to hand the Redwood Varsity Baseball Giants their first loss of the young 2023 season. With Redwood up by 2-1 through five innings, the Gauchos scored five runs in the top of the 6^th, then held on to win by a score of 6-4. 

One day after shining on the road against the Petaluma Trojans, the Giants’ pitching couldn’t find the same mound magic at home. A quartet of Redwood hurlers issued 9 walks, hit 4 batters, and generally struggled to find the strike zone. 

Redwood starting pitcher Rex Solle ran hot and cold through four innings, walking the bases full in the top of the 1^st, but settling in by the 3^rd inning to strike out the side 1-2-3. Dishing a whopping 40 pitches in that first frame, Solle managed somehow to hold the Gauchos to just one run, blemished only by right fielder Zach Baird, who singled to right with the bases loaded.

Jack Moseley, the Giants’ freshman right fielder, helped limit the damage in the first as he ranged back on a long fly ball to right-center by stout Gaucho first baseman Alex Cruz. At the last minute, and with the wall fast approaching, Moseley raised his long left arm on the backhand to corral the blast.

Redwood hitters were busy at the plate all day, putting runners into scoring position in every inning but one. In the bottom of the 2^nd, catcher Rory Coughlin belted a triple into the gap in left-center off Gaucho starting pitcher Austin Steeves, but was thrown out at the plate on the very next play, trying to score on Giants center fielder Gavin Soper’s sharp grounder to third. 

In the 3^rd, Giants second baseman Theo Trono legged out a grounder to short, then moved to second on a perfect sacrifice bunt by shortstop Danil Wells (his first of two on the day). When first baseman Rory Minty dropped a single into center field, Trono came racing around to score, tying up the game 1-1 with a head-first slide.

Solle made things interesting again in the top of the 4^th, fanning Baird on a sweeping curveball before walking two batters, hitting one, and uncorking a pair of wild pitches to load the bases with two outs. The junior right-hander emerged unscathed, however, getting Gaucho catcher JT Summers to ground sharply to third, where Redwood’s Lucas Ghio fired across to Minty at first to retire the side. 

The Gauchos also threatened in the top of the 5^th against Giants reliever Matthew Knauer, but were denied by Moseley, who snagged a curving fly ball down the right field line for the second out, then reached down below his knees to pluck a sinking line drive from the air for out number three.

Sparkplug Trono got things going again in the bottom of the 5^th for Redwood against Gaucho reliever Wyatt Abramson, leading off with a double into the left-center field gap, then taking third on another perfect sacrifice bunt by Wells. Trono nearly scored when Abramson pitched wildly behind Minty’s back, and was forced to retreat only when the ball caromed directly off the backstop and back to Summers.

With one out, and runners on first and third, Resnick sent a grounder into the hole, where Gaucho shortstop Jordan Giacomini gloved it and wheeled to second in hopes of starting an inning-ending double play. But that was not to be, as Resnick narrowly beat out the throw at first, scoring Trono and eliciting a howl of protest from Casa Grande’s head coach. His arguments notwithstanding, the 5^th inning ended with the Giants up 2-1.

 That lead was short-lived, however, as Knauer started the 6^th inning by drilling one batter, then walking another, before giving way to reliever Max Paul with one out. Paul started no better, walking Steeves (now in center field; Steeves walked four times on the day, and finished 1-for-1 in 5 appearances) to load the bases. Summers then lifted a ball to Soper in center field, deep enough to score the runner from third, tying the score 2-2 with two outs, and bringing the hefty Cruz to the plate with runners on first and second.

When Cruz powered yet another ball out in the direction of Moseley, who had robbed him at the wall at the start of the game, it appeared that history might repeat itself, and that the Giants might escape the inning. This time, however, turned out differently. Moseley started in, then realized that backspin on the ball might carry it over his head. Shooting his glove up at the last minute, Moseley couldn’t contain the ball, and watched it squirt out of his grasp and roll behind him.

The runners, moving on contact with two outs, both scored easily, unlocking the score at 4-2. When Abramson followed with a line drive single to left making it 5-2, the wind seemed to have been sucked out of Redwood’s sails.

Paul gave way on the mound to Chas Veley, who promptly picked Abramson off at first (appearing to end the inning), but  was called for a balk . The breaks were all going the Gauchos’ way. Right fielder Kalen Clemmens then proceeded to take advantage of his free at-bat by dropping a flare just over third base and inside the left field line to pad the Gaucho lead at 6-2.

Redwood continued to battle, though, loading the bases in the bottom of the 6^th with one out.  Wells scored Solle on a grounder to third, drawing the Giants within 6-3, before Minty was called out looking . Satisfied with the call, and with his lead, the Casa Grande coach began to argue again – this time to call the game for darkness, while the clock continued to tick, and the temperature dipped into the 40’s. As before, his arguments went unheeded.

The Gauchos loaded the bases on Veley in the top of the 7^th, but Abramson’s fly ball to Soper finally ended their afternoon at the plate.

In the bottom of the 7^th, with two outs, in an eerie near-darkness, Soper singled up the middle to drive in Resnick and bring the Giants within two. And when Soper advanced to second on a passed ball, it seemed that maybe, just maybe, they had a chance to tie it up. But once Solle swung and missed at a last Abramson curveball, the dim red lights on the scoreboard reading 6-4 were all that was left to see.

The loss brings the Giants to 4-1 on the season (0-0 MCAL). They kick off league play next Tuesday in Novato at San Marin, before returning home to host the Mustangs on Thursday. 

3/02/23:  Riding the 1-hit pitching of Senior southpaw Rory Minty, the Redwood Varsity Baseball Giants dispatched their perennial non-league nemesis the Petaluma Trojans Thursday with surprising ease, 6-0. Minty carried a no-hitter into the 6^th inning, finishing the complete game with eight strikeouts against a single walk.

Having fallen twice the prior year to the Trojans, including a season-ending loss in the NCS D-II Semifinals, the Giants’ early-season victory on Petaluma’s home field was all the sweeter. Redwood racked up 11 hits and committed just one error on the day, steadily pulling away from the Trojans throughout a chilly March afternoon.

The Giants got on the board right away in the top of the 1^st, when first baseman Ben Resnick’s long fly ball to right field was misplayed by Trojan Jasper Jennings, scoring Minty, who had reached base on a walk.

Minty’s stellar outing on the mound started inauspiciously with a 4-pitch walk and wild pitch, immediately placing Trojan DH Raime Dayton into scoring position, but a soft fly ball to left fielder Sam Gersch and two quick strikeouts shut down the Trojans for the inning. Minty would allow no further walks, and only two more baserunners over the entire game.

In the top of the 3^rd, Giant third baseman Rex Solle led things off with a single to left, stealing 2^nd despite being picked off, and advancing to 3^rd on Minty’s slow roller to second baseman Flynn Shoop. Shoop’s desperate throw caused Trojan behemoth first baseman Aaron Davainis to prostrate his entire 6’5”, 275lb frame towards right field, and seemingly to remove his foot from the base, but the ump saw fit to call Minty out nonetheless.

Resnick responded on the next pitch with a single to score Solle, scoring himself following two more sharp hits by right fielder Tyler Sofnas and shortstop Danil Wells. 

 The Giants tacked on more runs in the 5^th and 6^th, highlighted by Sofnas’ double into the gap in left-center, and RBI singles from Solle and catcher Rory Coughlin. Center fielder Gavin Soper made it around as well, leading off the 6^th with a seeing-eye grounder up the middle, stealing second, taking third on a wild pitch, then scoring on a wild pickoff attempt at first base.

Soper bedeviled the Trojans in the field as well, racing to his right in the bottom of the 3^rd to sprawl out and rob shortstop Colton Delina of extra bases with a spectacular backhanded catch. And with two outs in the bottom of the 7^th, and the daylight fading fast behind the Petaluma hills, it was Soper again charging in and diving to deny the burly Davainis of a hit, and sending the Trojans home for the day.

 Considering that – nine months earlier – it had been Devainis on the mound who had pitched a complete game and ended Redwood’s 2022 season by striking out the side, it felt to Giants fans at that moment as if some justice had been done. 

 With the win, Redwood moves to 4-0 on the year (0-0 MCAL), and will host the Casa Grande Gauchos (also from Petaluma) on Friday, before kicking off MCAL play next week at San Marin.