Warriors win at tournament

 Strong hitting and the return of a pitching ace from last season helped the Del Norte High baseball team to a 9-1 victory over Willows in the second day of a tournament in Redding on Thursday.

Senior Travis Stacey threw five solid innings with five strikeouts and no walks while giving up only three hits.

This was the first pitching start for Stacey this season. While he has been hitting and playing third base, coaches have gone slowly with him, easing him back to pitching as he recovered from a broken wrist suffered during a basketball game in January.

“He was really big for us,” head coach Pablo Lorenzi said. To have someone like Stacey pitching down the stretch this season could prove valuable, he added.

Last year, Stacey went 5-1 with a 3.29 ERA.

On Wednesday, the first day of the tournament, Del Norte defeated University Prep 12-1 in five innings and dropped an 8-4 decision to Enterprise.

“They were a bit more focused today,” Lorenzi said Thursday. “We had a fast start and you could see that they were there to play baseball.”

The Warriors put up four runs in the first inning, one run in the third and four in the fourth. Willows scored its lone run in the final inning.

Stacey also helped his cause at the plate, going 3-for-3 with four RBIs, a run and a double.

Sophomore Ryan Hollins went 2-for-4 with two runs, one double and an RBI.

Layton O’Reilley went 1-for-3 with two runs, a double, and two RBIs. Nathan Porter went 1-for-2 with an RBI and Kody Osbourne was 1-for-4 with an RBI.

T.J. Scott pitched the final two innings for Del Norte with one strikeout, and gave up a run and two hits.

The Warriors improved to 6-3 for the season.

Del Norte will conclude the tournament today at 1 p.m. against either Central Valley or Burney.

As of Thursday afternoon,  Lorenzi said it appears the Warriors will host a Big 5 Conference makeup game against McKinleyville on Monday. If it’s played, the game would start at 4 p.m.