Justin-Siena upsets Kelseyville, braces for Piedmont

So it was a good omen when fifth-seeded Justin-Siena upset the No. 4 Knights 5-1 in the quarterfinals on Saturday afternoon in Lake County.

Now in the semifinals for the second year in a row, the Braves (14-9) will host No. 8 seed Piedmont (14-10) at 5 p.m. Wednesday to try to reach their first NCS title game since 2016. It’ll be the second meeting of the season between the teams at the Braves’ diamond, where the Highlanders won 12-8 back on March 2.

Kelseyville (18-6) went into the game at Lloyd Larsen Field on a 15-game win streak, but the Braves played their best baseball of the year, head coach Jeremy Tayson said. They just needed an inning to warm up after an hour and a half drive.

With his team trailing 1-0 after the first inning, four-year varsity mainstay Dalen Tinsley opened the top of the second with a single to start an impressive four-run rally that gave the Braves all they needed to hold the Knights at bay.

After a Jake Fletcher walk, Sam Denkin, Henry Meyers and Noah Giovannelli followed with RBI line-drive singles that grabbed the momentum back for the Braves. That 4-1 lead and another run in the fourth were all starting pitcher Everet Johnson needed to get the win in six innings of work. The junior allowed just two hits, a walk and a hit batter while striking out nine. Johnson faced the minimum over his last four innings of work, backed by impressive defense from middle infielders Braeden Butler and Trevor L’Esperance. Butler came on to close in the seventh, retiring the Knights in order with one strikeout.

Fletcher was also impressive defensively behind the plate, tallying three assists after blocking strikeouts in the dirt.

Giovannelli led Justin-Siena’s eight-hit attack by going 2 for 2 with a walk and the RBI, and fellow sophomore Meyers was 1 for 3 with two RBI and a run scored. Johnson (1 for 4) doubled in a run and other hits came from Tinsley (1 for 4, run scored), Fletcher (1 for 3, walk, run scored), Luke Giusto (1 for 3, hit by pitch) and Sam Denkin (1 for 3, walk, run scored).

Justin-Siena lost 8-3 at Fortuna in a Saturday game on April 29, making the Braves brace for a possible rematch in a month. But with the top-seeded Huskies losing their quarterfinal matchup to Piedmont on the other side of the bracket on Saturday, 5-2, the Braves have to get past the Highlanders to advance to the program’s first NCS championship game since getting to three straight championship games from 2014 to 2016.

The Justin-Piedmont winner will play the winner of Wednesday’s other semifinal between No. 3 seed Arcata (22-6) and visiting No. 7 seed Del Norte (14-11-1) of Crescent City.

Arcata finished second behind Fortuna and Del Norte finished fourth in the Big 5 League. But Del Norte won two of three games against Arcata May 3-4.