Gamblers finish year in first place

For the ninth time in 10 years, the Tri-County Gamblers are the champions of the Joe DiMaggio North Bay League.

The Gamblers, who are comprised of players from Glenn, Colusa and Yolo counties, swept a pair from St. Helena on Saturday and then received a forfeit from the Napa county team on Sunday to finish atop the league standings with a 15-3 record. The Gamblers finished the overall regular season with a 21-4 mark.

The Vallejo Spartans finished in second place while Napa Sheriff’s finished in third and the Vallejo Mets were fourth.

Tri-County will be the No. seed from the East and will play the winner of the Vallejo Mets/Sonoma game at 2:15 p.m. on Saturday at Mendocino College in Ukiah.

If Tri-County wins, it will play at 12:45 p.m. on Sunday. A loss in that game would necessitate a second championship game at 3:30 p.m.

If Tri-County loses its opener, it would play at 10 a.m. to play in an elimination game.

A top three finish at the regionals this weekend guarantees Tri-County a berth in the World Series, which will be held at Yountville. Because Napa is the host, it received an automatic bid to the World Series and thus is not competing in the regionals.

Mendocino is the top team from the NBL West, followed by Sonoma and Windsor. The Vallejo Spartans play Windsor in the other first round game with Mendocino playing the winner Saturday at 4:45 p.m.

Against St. Helena on Saturday, the Gamblers got a combined one-hitter from Chris Cole and Matt Vedo to win 13-1 in the opener. Cole went the first three innings and Vedo threw the final two.

Tri-County scored four times in the second and seven times in the third to break the game opener.

Kaplan Smith was 3-for-3 with triple and two RBI while Ian Mistrot was 2-for-3 with a double and five RBI. Mitchell Barsotti added two doubles and two RBI while Cole had a triple among his two hits. Vedo also had a double and two RBI while Ray McIntire had a single and Derek Carothers had a single.

Kevin Rowell tossed the second game, a 13-3 win. Tri-County supported Rowell with five-run rallies in the second and third innings.

John Cummings went 3-for-3 with four RBI while Will Enos swatted a two-run homer.

Stephen Carmack was 2-for-4 while Smith and Barsotti each had one hit and one RBI. Thomas Fleming also singled while Cole was 2-for-3 with a triple and three RBI.