(Editor’s Note: During the pandemic, the Argus-Courier is looking back at what happened this week, just a year ago. This week a preview of the upcoming baseball season for Petaluma and Casa Grande high schools in 2020. If Sonoma County can reach the red tier on the state’s pandemic scale, the teams could resume play in April 2021)
Petaluma Trojans
A quick look at the Petaluma High School baseball roster indicates that it is going to be a fun year on the Trojan baseball diamond. An equally quick look at the schedule casts a shadow of doubt.
“I’ll tell you how much fun it has been in June,” said coach Jim Selvitella. “Our schedule is a gantlet. It is one tough game after another.”
Petaluma is looking to improve on a championship season. Although the Trojans shared the Vine Valley Athletic League championship with Sonoma County rivals Casa Grande and Sonoma Valley last season, they were just 14-11 overall and lost in the first round of the North Coast Section playoffs.
On paper, Petaluma has enough pitching arms to face its imposing schedule, although many have yet to make their mark against varsity competition.
The top of the pitching staff is veteran with Sam Brown, Mark Wolbert and Julian Garrahan.
Brown, a senior, throws hard — very hard. He struck out 39 in 27⅔ innings last season. Control difficulties led to a 2-5 record and a 4.30 earned run average. He has the potential to be one of the best in the area.
Wolbert returns after a strong varsity debut was a sophomore. He was 3-1 with a 3.57 earned run average, averaging a strikeout per inning.
Another sophomore last season, Julian Garrahan was the team workhorse, pitching 46 innings, while putting together a 5-1 record that included a 3.35 earned run average.
Those three form a solid mound nucleus, with several others ready and willing to help. How able they will be is still to be determined. Included in that group are Mario Zarco, Kade Sklove, D’Mari Sims, Casey Pectol, Rocco Palmini and Nate Zimmerman. Zarco is the only one of the group with any real experience. He pitched 10 innings, allowing three runs and nine hits with nine strikeouts last year.
Putting on the gear this season will be sophomore Joe Brown, who played a little bit of everywhere last season as a freshman on the varsity. Selvitella is confident he can handle the job. “He’s very athletic,” the coach said. “We could play him anyplace.”
The catcher is the brother of senior pitcher Sam, who will playing first base when he isn’t pitching, and hit wherever he plays. He batted .316 last season with five doubles and four home runs, driving in 24 runs.
“He makes people with homes across Webster Avenue nervous,” Selvitella said, referring to the street behind Petaluma’s right-field fence. “He could be one of the most prolific left-hand hitters in our area since Francis Christy (a former Casa Grande slugger),” the coach said, carefully avoiding a comparison to right-handed hitting Casa Grande graduate Spencer Torkelson, a likely future Major League top-three draft pick now playing at Arizona State.
Playing alongside Sam Brown at second base will be another Trojan batting leader, junior Garret Lewis. Despite playing with an injured shoulder much of last spring, Lewis batted .297 with 19 hits that included four doubles and two home runs.
Nico Bertolucci, who solidified the Petaluma defense when he took over at shortstop last season, returns, bringing a solid glove and a .289 batting average he plans to improve.
Zarco is back at third base after playing solid defense and batting .266 as a sophomore.
Zimmerman, who had a brief look on the varsity last season, and a pair of juniors, Ryan Baptista and Logan Fiene, provide backup infield help and both can catch in support of Joe Brown.
Several players will handle outfield duties.
One is likely to be Wolbert, who might also find himself at first base when Sam Brown is on the mound. He is coming off a strong sophomore hitting season, batting .305 with 25 hits in 25 games.
Sims, Pectol, Will Krup and Palmini could also chase down fly balls for the Trojans. Sims is a senior. The others are all juniors.
Casa Grande Gauchos
New Casa Grande High school baseball coach Pete Sikora inherits more than a team, he inherits a program and a legacy.
After replacing Paul Maytorena, one of the most successful baseball coaches ever in the Redwood Empire, Chad Fillinger guided the Gauchos to championships in two different leagues in his two seasons as head coach. In his first year, Fillinger’s Gauchos went 20-8 and won the North Bay League championship. Last year, his team, after a slow start, was 15-12, and tied Petaluma and Sonoma Valley for the Vine Valley Athletic League championship and went on to beat Petaluma in the first round of the North Coast Section playoffs.
It is a winning tradition Sikora plans to keep building not only this season, but into the future.
“This job is a dream come true for me,” he said. “This program has meant so much to me as a player and a coach.”
Casa Grande has a schedule to rival any in the North Coast Section in difficulty, but it is designed to help the Gauchos in pursuit of another league title and hopefully beyond.
“Our ultimate goal is to win the NCS, and to do that we have to get battle tested,” he said. Casa Grande enters the season with a mound crew strong enough to handle its rigorous schedule, and it is going to get better. “I’m really excited about our pitching staff,” Sikora said. “They are young, but talented.” The mound group includes four juniors and a pair of impressive sophomores.
Sikora has high hopes for junior left-hander Evan Johnson, who is pushing his way up from the junior varsity.
Sophomores Russ Freedheim and Nick Tobin will be counted on for varsity work.
Jake McCoy is back after a strong sophomore season that saw him go 3-2 with a 2.58 earned run average. By season’s end, he was the team’s closer.
Senior Max Smedshammer, who got into a few games last season, and Cameron Cooper are competing for innings, as is junior Jake Lannert.
And that doesn’t even count potentially the team’s two best pitchers who won’t be available until later this month.
Senior Mario Taormina is recovering “nicely” from elbow surgery and should be ready to throw by mid-month. Last season, Taormina was 5-0 with a 1.28 earned run average and threw a no-hitter at Petaluma in the Boras Tournament.
The Gauchos are also awaiting the arrival of junior Gavin Ochoa, who was a workhorse for rival Petaluma High last season, going 4-4 with a 3.45 earned run average. He has to sit out the first part of the season because of transfer rules and won’t be available until April 1.
The Gauchos are expected to back their pitchers with a strong defense, especially up the middle, where Cole Santander returns to catch, Nick Orella and Nick Taormina form a solid double-play combination, and McCoy and Johnson anchor an improved defensive outfield.
Santander, going into his senior season, is one of the best baseball players in the North Coast Section. The returning all-leaguer hit .333 last season with 26 hits in 27 games and 28 RBIs. He was chosen the Vine Valley Athletic League Offensive Player of the Year, and he is also an outstanding defensive player.
“He can definitely play at the next level,” said Sikora.
Orella moves over from second to play shortstop after batting .292 during an outstanding junior season and playing solid defense on the right side of the bag. Included in his season were five doubles and a triple.
Second baseman Nick Taormina, Mario’s brother, is coming off a solid .262 season and also brings an excellent glove to the Casa lineup.
Junior Zane Bennett provides a solid back-up for the middle infielders.
The corner infielders are young, with Freedheim at first and Tobin at third.
Lannert could work in at first base.
Isaac Sheets, who came up from the junior varsity for the NCS tournament last season, will be the back-up catcher and, according to Sikora, can play just about anywhere else on the diamond.
Lucas Schaefer is another player who can help wherever the Gauchos need him. He has been slowed in the early going by a groin strain.
Last season, Casa Grande had some defensive difficulties in the outfield. Sikora said that shouldn’t be a problem this spring, with McCoy and Johnson anchoring things in center field.
The corner spots should be potent offensively with Elijah Waltz returning to play left field and Ochoa in right when he becomes eligible. Waltz batted .317 last season and had a habit of getting big hits, driving in 17 runs and slugging seven doubles and a home run. Sikora said Waltz has worked hard and has greatly improved his defense.
Ochoa brings a potentially strong bay from the other side of town.
Lance Driskell-Nichols will also help as he comes to the varsity after being the junior varsity Most Valuable Player last season.
Senior Tony Dacheve will also help in the outfield.
The only thing really new about the Casa Grande coaching staff is Sikora’s elevation to head coach. Everything else continues to be in the Gauchos’ family.
Back to assist Sikora are Brian Fiene, Todd Franks, Whitey Marovich and Steve Pearson.
“They are all Casa graduates,” Sikora pointed out. “They have all competed and been successful at other levels and they understand Casa baseball and Casa tradition.”
Fillinger will also continue with the program. A former professional player, he will be a major asset to the Gaucho pitchers.
Kyle Manford, a former Petaluma High head coach, will lead the junior varsity with help from Garrett Glaviano and Spencer Neve.
The veteran trio of Gary Dorsett, Ralph Gentile and Carlos Perez take care of the freshman program.
It all adds up to a strong Casa Grande team, but one that faces the challenge of a Herculean schedule.