With the inspirational words of legendary Redwood coach Al Endriss’ pre game speech in mind, the Redwood varsity baseball team took their positions at Albert Field on Saturday March 8 beginning the first of two games against Golden Valley High School from Santa Clarita, CA.
Golden Valley’s varsity team, under the supervision of Marin Catholic alumnus and former Redwood baseball coach Gino Pomilia, made its way North last weekend to take on Redwood in a double header.
Since stepping down as Redwood’s coach six years ago, Pomilia had wanted to get together with his old team. When hired as Golden Valley’s head coach last year, Pomilia connected with old friend and former Redwood player Jeff Packman to get their teams together.
When the Golden Valley players arrived at Redwood on Friday night, neither team knew what to expect. Paired up by position, each player had no choice in who they would be housing for the rest of the weekend.
With the game still more than 12 hours away, both teams looked for activities to pass the time. “It was a little weird being around them at first,” senior Henry Friedricks said. As the night progressed, Friedricks and several of his other teammates got to know their roommates on a trip to the Headlands.
“We had no choice in who we got paired with, I don’t think it would have mattered anyway, they all seemed pretty cool,” Golden Valley pitcher John Mark Niednagel said.
Aided by Jaiden France’s pitching, Golden Valley held their 4th inning 1-0 lead throughout the remainder of the game, allowing Redwood’s offense three hits, with two coming from junior Riley Overend.
After a short break, both the Bears and the Giants returned to start the second game. With sophomore Zach Cohen on the mound, things looked good for Redwood as they converted two fast outs, but with an overthrow from senior catcher Jake Horan, Golden Valley scored an easy run in the first inning.
Seniors Brendan Flynn, Cameron Brady, and Tommy Lewis were able to rally back, putting a total of seven runs on the board by the end of the fourth inning.
Golden Valley, determined to finish strong, put four more runs on the scoreboard. Ultimately, the final score was 11-6 Redwood.
With an impressive performance from both, each team was able to come away with one win. Redwood senior second baseman Joey Firenzi came away with two hits as well as a strong four innings of pitching allowing only one run. He and junior Devon Pence each made a number of plays in the infield.
The Giants are now to 2-2 (1-0 in MCAL) in the standings for the season after beating Terra Linda 12-5 in the MCAL opener. Their next game is Friday, at Albert Field at 7:30 against San Marin.
