By MARTY JAMES martyjames.sports@gmail.com
The Napa Valley College men's golf team opened its spring season with a second-place finish in the Big 8 Conference's first tournament.
Playing at Woodbridge Golf and Country Club in San Joaquin County, on Feb. 12, Napa Valley posted a 391-team score, finishing just one shot behind first-place San Joaquin Delta College-Stockton, which had a 390-team total.
Woodbridge is a par-71, 6,500-yard course.
"What I loved about this team from the get-go, they were upset they lost. They were like, really?" said Storm coach Bob Freschi. "I just said, 'Remember that feeling. And don't let it happen again.'
"But we didn't play too well. It's just one of those days, but we hung in there. And to come in second, we'll take it early on."
Modesto Junior College took third with a 396-team score. Sierra College-Rocklin was fourth, at 403. This year, the Big 8 Conference has two divisions. In the North, it's Napa Valley, Sierra, San Joaquin Delta and Modesto. In the South, it's Reedley College, Fresno City College, San Jose City College and Taft College.
The Big 8 Conference has 12 tournaments.
"Like I told the team, we were tentative. And that's not a word in our vocabulary and not a word I use at all," said Freschi.
He told the team that he wants them to be aggressive.
"Our tee shots, chipping, putting … we were just tentative, and you can't play golf like that. So, I attribute that to nerves – first match. They're a work in progress."
Markus Nanpei led the Storm with a 3-over-par 74.
Nick DeBellis had a 4-over-par 75 and Tyler Momono had a 7-over-par 78.
Next for the Storm was Lawrence Pepito with a 9-over-par 80.
Matthew Commander had an 84 and Brayden Dixon had a non-scoring 91.
"390 was a little high for us," said Freschi. "We talked about breaking 390 and getting into the low 380s. It would be a good number to shoot for. We had a couple of bad breaks. It's golf, but it just kind of hurts when you look back on it in retrospect. We've just got to play smarter, better golf. A couple of guys were nervous. For most of the guys, it was the first competitive match in a long time."
Freschi is looking for consistency and to lower the scoring average from both individual players and the team.
"It's a long season. It's a grind and this is just the beginning," said Freschi. "We've got a lot of travel ahead of us. We have a lot of golf ahead of us. I love our makeup of our team. We do go 8-deep. So, having depth like that and being competitive is going to help us in the long run."
* Marty James is a freelance writer who makes his home in Napa. He retired on June 4, 2019 after spending 40 years as a sports writer, sports editor and executive sports editor for the Napa Valley Register, a daily newspaper in Napa County. He is a 1979 graduate of Sacramento State and a member of the California Golf Writers & Broadcasters Association. He was inducted into the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Hall of Fame in 2016, the Vintage High School Athletic Hall of Fame in 2019, and the Napa High School Athletic Hall of Fame in 2022.