BASEBALL: Scotts Valley Tops St. Francis

Scotts Valley 10, St. Francis-Watsonville 5

The Star: Scotts Valley senior pitcher Brett Levy took top honors after a strong showing in his first start of the year. The senior captain struck out four hitters and only allowed two earned runs.  He went five innings before turning the ball over to relief pitcher Jake Duncan.  Levy also shined at the plate going 1-for-3 with two walks and two RBI’s.

Max Crowley earned the nod as the player of the game for the Sharks. Crowley went 2-for-4 at the plate and also had two RBI’s in the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League matchup held Friday afternoon at St. Francis High in Watsonville.

The Turning Point: As the fourth inning began St. Francis( 3-8, 0-4 SCCAL) held on to a slim 2-1 lead. Rather quickly, the momentum switched into the visitors corner. The combination of a couple hard hit balls and a pair of unforced errors helped Scotts Valley (4-6-1, 1-4 SCCAL) tie the game and eventually take a 7-4 lead midway through the ball game.

The Quote: "It was nice to get the win today.” Scotts Valley assistant coach Andy Rodgers said, “Our senior captain pitched very well in his first game and we just capitalized on their mistakes.”

Falcons starting pitcher Brett Levy made some key adjustments to grind his way through a tough Sharks lineup.

“They were hitting my mistakes so half way through the game I started using the corner of the plate more and we scored more runs to get the job done,”  Levy said.

The Sharks coaches were pleased with the effort, but know their team will have to clean up a few areas in order to be successful the next time out.

“We played well despite that one inning,” St. Francis assistant coach Brandon Cole said after the game. “We just have to get rid of the mental errors and we will be fine.”

The St. Francis head coach echoed that sentiment.

“I thought we played well. Our pitcher threw strikes and our defense played well,” St. Francis head coach Curtis Gomez said. “We just have to correct that one inning that seems to bite us.It’s been happening all season so far.”

What's Next? Scotts Valley will play at Soquel on Saturday morning at 10:30 a.m.  Saint Francis will play at San Lorenzo Valley on Tuesday at 4 p.m.

Bottom Line:  Both of these teams are very young and will improve as time goes on.  Several league games were washed away during a very rainy stretch in March. With a lot of baseball left on the docket, the SCCAL league crown is still very much up for grabs. The win Friday was the first in league for the Falcons. Soquel currently leads the SCCAL with a 3-0 mark overall.

 ...................................................................................................................

Scotts Valley             0          0          1          6          3          0          0                      10

Saint Francis                        0          2          2          0          0          0          1                      5

Winning Pitcher: Brett Levy

Losing pitcher: Zach Hernandez

Scotts Valley Stats

Brett Levy-     2 RBI’s

St. Francis Stats

Pablo Mora 1-for-4

Andrew Donati 2-for-3, 2 RBI’s

Aidan Mathews 1-for-3

Max Crowley 2-for-3, 2 RBI’s