Entering the most difficult part of their schedule, the Varsity Dons dropped 2 games this week, 7-2 vs Amador Valley and 12-4 at home in front of a raucous crowd vs San Ramon Valley.

Dante Montgomery at the start at Amador Valley: At the dons of Amador Valley in Pleasanton in front of a sizable crowd, good pitching and defense led the way for the first 2.5 innings.  In the bottom of the 3^rd and 4^th, however, the Amador bats came alive and the Dons defense didn’t help matters, yielding 3 runs in each inning – 3 earned and 3 unearned.

The Dons offense tried to claw its way back into the game but in the end, tallied only 2 runs on 5 hits, stranding 6 runners. Will Berrien and Miles Bergman (both Seniors) led the way with 2 hits a piece.

On Friday in front of a cold but raucous home crowd the Dons were hit hard early by the visiting SRV Wolves.  Hard hitting and soft defense dug the Dons a huge hole as they were down 12-1 early.  A hard throwing righty on the mound for the Wolves kept the Dons offense quiet early.  But the Dons offense came alive in the bottom of the 3^rd against the UCSB pitching commit putting up 3 more runs.  With one out, Sammy Lee (Jr) cracked a long single into the wind that would have gone for a double on a nicer day.  2 hit batters and a pop out later (we’ve got ice!), Bergman doubled to center field, scoring 2 runs.  Nico O’Rourke walked to load the bases but the Dons couldn’t get more. That was the story for the day for the Dons.

Benjy Braunstein (Sr) and Henry Souza (So) combined to blank SRV for the final 3 innings while the Dons tried to continue their spirited comeback.  In all, the Dons had 9 hits and 6 walks but stranded 12 runners and dropped the contest 12-4.   One more timely hit and one less error and the Dons could have come away with the victory against a very good SRV team.  Regardless, it was nice to see the bats come alive against a strong pitching staff, and the pitchers show some spirited resilience against a very strong batting lineup.  Berrian, Montgomery and Lee led the way with 2 hits each.

Coming up Next: The Varsity Dons play two top 10 NCS teams next week on the road: Liberty on 3/9 and Foothill High on 3/11.  Both games at 4pm