Concord scores early, knocks off Kelseyville in Division 5 quarterfinals
By Brian Sumpter
Lake County Sports on Facebook
KELSEYVILLE >> As quickly as the Kelseyville Knights made a game of it Friday afternoon with a three-run bottom of the third against Concord, the Bears answered with a four-run top of the fourth and never looked back, winning 11-5 in the quarterfinal round of the North Coast Section Division 5 playoffs at Lloyd Larson Field.
Concord (11-15), the No. 14 seed in the original 16-team playoff field, scored twice in the top of the first and four times in the second to build a 6-1 lead before the Knights (14-13) got things rolling in the bottom of the third. Unfortunately, the shutdown inning Kelseyville head coach Billy Shaul was looking for in the top of the fourth never materialized.
“Big innings killed us,” Kelseyville head coach Billy Shaul of Concord’s two four-run innings against Knights starter Brayton Thomas, who didn’t get much help from his infield defense, which committed three costly errors in those two innings. “We put some pressure on them in the third, but we couldn’t hold them in the fourth.”
Kelseyville certainly took a run at the Bears in the bottom of the third. With one out, Deake Lyndall singled to center field, but he didn’t stay on first base very long. JD Smart mashed a triple to deep right-center field to make it a 6-2 game, and Case Pivniska followed with a RBI single. Two infield errors by the Bears provided the Knights with their third and final run of the inning.
Concord didn’t dwell on its reduced lead very long. Its first two batters reached in the fourth on a double and a walk. Pascual Palafox then put down a sacrifice bunt and reached safely himself on a throwing error on the play, which scored a run. A walk loaded the bases and another walk forced home a run to make it 8-4.
With the bases loaded and still no outs, Shaul went to his bullpen for Reece Johnson, who allowed a RBI single to Jorge Bravo. Johnson retired each of the next batters – on a flyball with no advance and a force play at the plate with a drawn-in infield. Damian Kochaphum singled home the fourth run of the inning, but the Knights cut down a second runner trying to score on the play for the third out.
“I thought our pitchers threw well enough, but we didn’t help them much (on defense),” Shaul said. “It was not one of our better games on defense.”
Kelseyville managed to get a run back in the bottom half on a pair of walks, a fielder’s choice grounder and passed ball that brought home Michael Dougherty.
Johnson worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the fifth before Concord scored in the sixth on a RBI single by winning pitcher Max Dashner. The Bears were looking for more in the inning, but third baseman Dougherty forced a runner at the plate before the inning ended on a flyball to center field.
Kelseyville managed to get a runner on base in the sixth and seventh but couldn’t get anything going against Dashner, who worked 6 1/3 innings before leaving the game with the bases empty and one out in the seventh because of the 110-pitch limit.
“We needed to get him out of the game earlier,” Shaul said of Dashner, who labored hard in the early innings before settling into a pretty good groove.
Dashner struck out seven, walked three and allowed three earned runs. Thomas took the loss, allowing hits, 10 runs (only four earned) in 3 1/3 innings. He struck out one and walked three.
The Bears finished with 15 hits and nearly had a 16th in the top of the seventh when Bravo lined a ball that ricocheted off the top of Dougherty’s glove at third base, hit the ground and was fielded by shortstop Stone, who threw out the runner at first base by a half step – a 5-6-3 putout.
Six different Knights had hits, led by Smart (2-for-4, triple, RBI). Other hits went to Lyndall, Stone, Pivniska, Keithly and Elijah Watkins.
Concord went up 2-0 in the first on a run-scoring single by Palafox and a run-scoring error. Kelseyville scored in the bottom half on a Stone two-out single.
The Bears opened things up in the top of the second on a Dashner RBI single, a run-scoring error, and a two-run single by Jonah Oleole.
Kelseyville opened 2026 by going 1-9, its young roster playing competitive ball but unable to win the close games in the first month of the season.
“We knew what we had,” Shaul said of his coaching staff overseeing a sophomore-dominated roster. “Once we got our young kids dialed in, we started playing some good ball. The last couple of years we’ve had veteran teams, and it’s hard when you’re expected to win. This year we didn’t have that pressure.”
Shaul gave nothing but credit to Concord, which beat No. 3 seed Fort Bragg 5-3 in opening-round action Tuesday.
“Probably the most well-coached team we’ve played this season,” Shaul said.
While Shaul said the Knights have the talent to continue a streak of four straight league championships in the North Central League I, they still need one thing moving forward.
“The biggest thing is we need leadership,” he said. “These sophomores are ahead of the game, but we don’t have that team leader yet.”
Shaul also gave credit to his two starting seniors, third baseman Dougherty and left fielder Lee.
“Lee played a great left field and had a couple of big hits for us in our win over St. Helena here (in Kelseyville),” Shaul said. “Dougherty had a couple of big hits for us against Fort Bragg. Both of those guys came through for us.”
GAME NOTES: Kelseyville has lost in the quarterfinal round of the playoffs four years running … The only other remaining NCL I team headed into Friday’s action, St. Helena, lost 5-4 to St. Patrick/St. Vincent in the quarterfinals … Las Lomas, the team that defeated Clear Lake in last year’s Division 4 championship game, is the No. 1 seed in Division 3 this year and has advanced to the semifinal round … Kelseyville was well represented on this year’s All-League team selected by the league coaches. The MVP award was split between two players on other teams … After the All-League team is released, Lake County Sports will follow with the All-County team … Kelseyville has won 15 league titles going back to the 2000 season. Since there was no league race in 2020 and 2012 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Knights have won outright or shared 15 of 24 league titles since 2000.