First baseman Chris Harms (6) and second baseman Josh Britt get tangled up on a ball popped behind first base in the third inning of the Oaks game against Napa. Britt managed to make the play for the first out of the inning. Photo by Joe Blenkle

Napa 4, Fair Oaks 3 (League: 11-1, Overall: 23-8-1) - July 5 @ Laurel Creek Park, Fairfield - Fair Oaks' quest for the Western Amateur Baseball Federation Tournament title ended on Sunday as Napa beat the Oaks 4-3 at Laurel Creek Park in Fairfield.

    The Oaks had reached the final day of competition by beating West Sacramento 6-1 the previous day in the tournament's single-elimination championship round.

    Napa took a 1-0 lead in the first inning of the game as shortstop Mike Santora got a one out hit to center field. Third baseman Dan Pardini followed with a double to score Santora and give the River Dogs the early lead.

    Fair Oaks evened the game up in the bottom of the second on left fielder Cody Osburn's one out home run to right field and the game stayed knotted up until the bottom of the fourth when the Oaks scored a lone run to go in front 2-1.

    With one out, shortstop Andrew Gutierrez go a hit to left field. With Osburn at the plate, Gutierrez stole second. Osburn eventually struck out, but the next batter designated hitter Taylor Sanders doubled to center field to score Gutierrez and give the Oaks the 2-1 lead.

     Napa came right back in the top of the fifth, however, to take a 4-2 lead over starting pitcher Josh Paige and the Oaks. Santora led off the inning with a walk and moved to second on Pardini's hit to center field. Two outs followed as Paige got the next batter to fly out and then struck out right fielder Ben Ballantine. But Napa center fielder Brandon Savin came through with a hit to right to score Santora and tie the game and then a double by first baseman Robbie Steen brought in Pardini and Savin to make it a 4-2 game. The Oaks replaced Paige on the mound with Brian Kennedy. Kennedy walked the first batter ha faced, but then got a ground ball to end the inning with the Oaks trailing by two runs.

    Fair Oaks got a runner as far as second in the bottom of the inning as second baseman Josh Britt drew a one out walk and took second on a wild pitch with catcher Mike Nantze at the plate. Both Nantze and center fielder Jon Lang struck out, however, to end the inning.

    Kennedy put Napa down in order in the top of the sixth, including two strikeouts, and the Oaks came back in the bottom of the inning to pull within one run at 4-3.

    Third baseman Ryan Hall led off the inning with a hit to right field and was replaced on first by pinch runner Branden Lang. Lang was erased, however, on a Gutierrez ground ball to third, with the throw going to second to get the lead runner. Osburn then doubled to center field to score Gutierrez and bring the Oaks to within one at 4-3. Post 383 was unable to bring any more runs home though as the next two batters struck out.

    Fair Oaks shut Napa down in the top of the seventh despite a leadoff hit. Kennedy struck the next batter out and then got a fly ball to center field. Steen, the next batter, delivered a hit to right to send the runner to third, but with designated hitter Chris Hard at the plate, Kennedy picked the runner off third to end the inning.

    In the bottom of the seventh, Fair Oaks looked to have a good shot to at least tie the game if not win it. But their luck went south after a leadoff hit by right fielder Ryan Dettman. Dettman actually grounded the ball to first, but beat the first baseman to the bag with a headlong dive. Napa brought in a new pitcher, but he hit Britt to start his tour on the mound and then gave up a sacrifice bunt to Nantze that moved the runners to second and third. This resulted in another Napa pitching change and several confusing plays that ended the game for Fair Oaks.

    Jon Lang was the first batter to face the new pitcher and grounded the ball to second The throw came home and Dettman was caught in a rundown between home and third, eventually getting back to third safely. But then Lang was caught off first and tagged out on a close play for the second out of the inning. This drew an argument from Oaks manager Jerry Crews and resulted in Crews getting ejected from the game.

    With two outs and the Oaks with runners at second to third, Hall was the next batter. He grounded to third, but Napa was reluctant to make the long throw across the field with the tying and winning runs in scoring position. What resulted was a circus on the base paths, with Napa fielders running at Oaks players and Oaks players scampering back and forth between bases. Unfortunately for the Oaks, through it all, the only one that was being closely watched was Dettman at third base and he was not able to ever get more than a few steps off the bag. Hall was finally gunned down, however, returning to first from second on a very close play that ended the game.

Napa: Pitching - Blum, Diskan (7), Ballantine (7) and Crandell. Top Hitters - Pardini 2x3, 2B; Crandell 2x4; Steen 2x3, 2B, 2 RBI.
Fair Oaks: Pitching - Paige, Kennedy (5) and Wheeler, Nantze (5). Top Hitters - Osburn 2x3, HR, 2B; Sanders 2B.