Thanks to our friend Herb Dower for this edition of “The Dower Report”
It was showdown week in Santa Rosa’s two fastpitch leagues, and the young and talented Santa Rosa Fastpitch team was more than equal to the challenge. In a battle for first place in the Wednesday League, Santa Rosa first defeated Dry Creek 13-0 behind the three-hit pitching of Jim Fleck on June 14, and followed that up a week later with an 14-4 win over a veteran Wall’s Bail Bonds team, as Fleck got the nod over Jim Vargas.
It was the second night in a row that Santa Rosa defeated Wally’s, posting a 12-2 win on Tuesday, with Fleck again bettering Vargas. Santa Rosa is now 6-1 in both leagues. and is 22-8 overall (four of the losses came in the Red ock Tournament) after winning the Class C tournaments in Fairfield and Folsom. The team will be playing in Sonora this weekend in another travel league tournament. Fleck, who also pitches for the Class B River City Rockers, is now 10-1 in the Santa Rosa League, and he’s been getting plenty of hitting support from a bevy of young players like Carlos and Eddie Gomez, Jewels Valesi, Casey Hillman, Mark Young, Theo Fightmaster, and Brian and Danny Macler. Eddie Gomez had an awesome week against the Bailbondsmen, going 2-for-4, scoring three runs and driving in two in the 11-3 win, and then hitting for the cycle on Wednesday with a homer, triple, double and single, scoring three more runs and driving in six. Valesi was 2-for-4 with four walks, Carlos Gomez was 3-for-5 with five RBI, and Hillman and Brian Macler were both 2-for-3 in Wednesday’s win.
JOTTINGS–The Dry Creek team finished second in the big Ukiah Indian Tournament, losing in the finals to Blood Line of Gardnerville, NV…..The nucleous of the Wally’s Bail Bonds team played for the Santa Rosa Storm last season, including Jim and Mike Vargas, Carl Carr, Galen George, and Tony Lopez. All played in last year’s Class C National Tournament in Stockton, where the Storm went 1-2.