Mendocino's Tony Melia is pitching well for the North Coast Athletics and is gearing up for next season.


The North Coast Athletics participated in the AAU Championship in Woodland, Calif. on June 17 and 18.

The Athletics played three games over the course of the weekend and Manager Mike James was pleased with his team's continual improvement.

The Athletics played against Rodeo Balz Out for their first game of the event. North Coast was up for the challenge and starting pitcher Everett James came out firing the moment he took the mound.

The Athletics held Rodeo scoreless through the first four innings of play after James was able to keep the opposition in check. The Athletics' defense helped him secure the shutout after making some dazzling plays in the field.

Shortstop Matt Freitas turned a 6-4-3 double play with Elliot Hee and Derek Shea, while Anthony Ruano tracked down a deep fly ball to limit Rodeo's chances early on.

Despite racking up four hits and drawing four walks through the first four innings, Rodeo was unable to get on the scoreboard.

The Athletics finally broke the scoreless battle after Tony Melia scored the go ahead run. Steven Young's RBI double scored Melia to put North Coast up 1-0.

Unfortunately, the Athletics appeared to wear down in the later innings with the temperatures reaching as high as 110 degrees. Immediately after James was relieved from the mound, the Athletics seemed to be out of sync.

Rodeo Balz Out took a 3-1 lead in the fifth inning and never looked back as the team regained its confidence against the bullpen.

Rodeo added two runs in the sixth and six runs in the seventh to finish off the contest with an 11-1 victory.

There was no time to think about how the game got away because the Athletics found themselves back on the field minutes after finishing up their first game.

The team was disappointed with how the first game ended, so it would be interesting to see how the players would respond for their next match.

In the second game of the tournament, the Athletics took on the Shingle Springs Bruins. North Coast looked to turn things around, but was unable to break through as the Bruins finished on top with a 3-1 victory.

Defense was the story of this game as the Athletics gave up all three runs off of defensive miscues. Starting pitcher Tony Melia put together five strong innings, striking out three batters in the process, but the Athletics could not make several key plays on defense, allowing the Bruins to steal the game in the end.

Ryan Stevens scored the lone run for North Coast after ripping a triple to the gap. Eli Duran executed a textbook squeeze play to score Stevens from third, but the Athletics could not mount another attack for the rest of the game.

The Athletics arrived at the field bright and early the next morning to play their third and final game of the tournament, hopeful that the result would not duplicate Saturday's scores.

Squaring off against the Sacramento Heat, the North Coast Athletics lost the nail-biter by the final score of 5-4. The Athletics could not catch a break all weekend as the team came home without a victory.

Manager James once again pointed to the defense as the primary factor for the outcome of the game. The Athletics' pitchers pitched well once again and the offense finally came to life, but the defense was unable to convert on several key plays and enabled the opposition to capitalize off of their mistakes.

Despite leaving Woodland without a victory, Manager James was pleased with the team's performance and the players' competitive spirit.

The team had a chance to win every game minus a few tough plays here and there. The Athletics continued to compete and support one another and that is exactly what Coach James was hoping to see. Good luck this weekend down in the Bay Area.