DANVILLE, Calif. — Throughout the Walnut Creek Crawdads’ losing streak, and especially in the team’s two most recent CCL losses, there have been recurring themes. Blowup innings to start the scoring have put the Crawdads on the back foot, and despite late surges, the opposing teams have been able to hold them off and hand them soul-crushing defeats. Wednesday evening against the Sonoma Stompers, the Crawdads decided enough was enough and completely flipped the script.

The Crawdads stormed out of the gate in the first inning. Designated hitter Brady Wilson and right fielder Joey Donnelly got the party started with a simple walk and infield single. From there, a double, a walk, a single, and an error would help bring in five runs, allowing the Crawdads to control the game as they continued to add runs in later innings. 

The pitching staff faltered at times and let Sonoma (18-12) get within three runs, but in the end, Walnut Creek (15-10) was able to ride the early scoring to an 11-8 victory. The Crawdads’ smiles seemed to shine a little brighter than usual as they walked off the Monte Vista High School playing surface with their first win since July 1. 

“It’s the best when they do that,” left-handed starting pitcher Aiden White said about the offense. “Getting to go out there and put a zero on (the Stompers), then they put up a five spot in the bottom of the first, so that definitely helps and eases the nerves a little bit.

“(The win) feels great, I think we really needed this one today.” 

First baseman John Youens was the Crawdad who hit the double that gave the team the lead. His hit drove in Wilson, and after catcher Brandon Clize walked to load the bases, third baseman Ryley Leininger collected his first of three hits on the day to continue what Youens started. 

Leininger singled up the middle to score Donnelly and Youens and advanced to second base after the center fielder had some trouble fielding the ball. Leininger was then able to impact the game with smart base running. 

He got in front of a ball that second baseman Chris Esquivel hit to Stompers’ shortstop Colton Boardman, which he wasn’t able to field. The ball bounded into the outfield, and Leininger scored from second as the fifth run of the inning. 

“It was a high chopper, it was kind of in front of me,” Leininger said. “The whole rule at second is you’ve got to be able to get in front of the ball to take the next bag or shortstop’s going to gun you down at third. I just knew I could get in his way and mess him up a little bit. I didn’t know it was going to mess him up that bad.” 

Leininger’s two other hits were pretty special. The lefty hitter roped a double to the wall in right field in the third inning for his first extra-base hit of the season, and later scored on a fielder’s choice. In his next at-bat, in the fourth inning, he smashed a ball into the right-center gap and rounded second base, sliding into third safely with a triple. Leininger had quickly put himself a home run away from the cycle. 

Unfortunately, the home run never came. Leininger was hit by a pitch in the seventh inning, and in his last at-bat, in the eighth inning, he just missed it, flying out to the center fielder. Still, the day was a massive confidence booster for the third baseman.

“The hitting thing can be problematic for some of these young people,” Crawdads head coach Brant Cummings said. “To see him have some success on balls he’s hit here the last couple of weeks, same kind of deal. People run him down or they hang up and they’re caught and he’s disappointed. So I felt good. Number one, it felt good to see him succeed, but also his success helped us win.” 

The win wouldn’t have been possible without the offensive output that Leininger and his teammates provided. It also wouldn’t have been possible without the pitching staff holding off the Stompers during times when they tried to surge back into the game. 

White started the game off with four strong innings, allowing three runs (two earned) and striking out six. His slider and fastball played well off of each other to rack up the K’s and limit damage when necessary. 

The bullpen allowed five runs (four earned) in five innings of work, but never let the Stompers get too close. 

Right-handed reliever Nathen Nino allowed two earned runs in his first inning of work but settled down and tossed two scoreless innings after that. The Stompers got within three in the eighth inning against right-handed reliever Kam Croghan, but left-handed closer Bradyn Barnes shut the door in the ninth inning. 

“(Nino) was able to stabilize,” Cummings said. “He helped our situation by being able to go two more innings, which was really, really important, so we could get to Kroghan, who gave us one, and then be able to get to Barnes again with a lead. Overall, it wasn’t perfect, but it was good enough to help us win.”

The play on the diamond might not’ve been perfect, but the Crawdads were able to give the Stompers a taste of the same nasty medicine that opposing teams have been giving the Walnut Creek squad. When you’re in the midst of a five-game losing streak (four-game CCL losing streak), you’ll take a win anyway it comes.

Before the losing streak, the Crawdads were sitting pretty with a 14-6 record and playing solid baseball. While Wednesday’s victory is only one small step back in the right direction, it gives the team the confidence needed to get back to that level of play on a more regular basis.

“It’s absolutely huge,” Leininger said. “We went down to (San Luis Obispo), got beat around a little bit there, and then we went to the Legends. It’s just a huge boost of confidence. The whole team, we’re all smiling, having fun. It’s just a game at the end of the day, but we take it a little more serious.”

By Ethan Ignatovsky