Sometimes you remember just how much you graded a team on a curve. Things like that happen when teams go 23 years before enjoying a winning season and 17 years between a non-losing campaign.
The 2005 St. Helena High baseball team broke that kind of ground. The Saints entered their season finale on May 21, 2005, scheduled to host Fort Bragg in a Saturday doubleheader. St. Helena entered the day with a 9-7 record and needed a twinbill split to ensure its first winning campaign since 1982.
The Saints won the first game 5-0 behind Zac Brookman’s complete-game, five-hit shutout in which he struck out two and walked three. The game was scoreless until the bottom of the fifth inning until Sebastian Heil’s two-run ground-rule double. Greg “Cadillac” Quirici later blasted a three-run homer. The Saints lost the nightcap 3-2 despite a solid combined pitching performance of Alex Wignall and Eddie McMullen. Quirici was nicknamed “Cadillac” by St. Helena native Ray Particelli due to his speed, or lack thereof.
Setting the stage: After going 2-18 in 2004, head coach Bryan Powell, who was also the football coach for two seasons, resigned. The Saints then turned to Joe Densberger, who is a 1980 St. Helena High graduate. Densberger, who is the current Saints varsity basketball coach, has spent most of his high school coaching career in basketball.
Though the team got progressively worse under Powell the previous season, the Saints entered the season with a good roster foundation led by a talented core of players from the previous year’s JV team that included but was not limited to the twin pairing of Luke and Eddie McMullen.
Densberger had a built-in familiarity with most of the players from either coaching them in basketball or little league. He also brought in Brent Koen and later Bill Connelly as assistant coaches.
Thumbnail sketch of the season: St. Helena started that season about as inauspiciously as a team can begin -- 10-1 loss at Middletown and a 25-0 loss to Justin-Siena in five innings. The latter went undefeated that season on the way to winning the CIF North Coast Section Class A title.
The Saints then bounced back to win four straight games -- 5-4 over Vallejo, 18-0 over Calistoga in five innings, 3-0 over St. Vincent (Petaluma) and 10-2 over Tomales. In the win over Vallejo, St. Helena trailed 2-0 early in the contest but scored four runs in the fourth inning highlighted by Brookman’s two-run triple. Vallejo had the tying run 90-feet away but the Saints escaped with the win.
The win over St. Vincent proved significant because it meant the team surpassed its win total from 2004. Not to mention, the win highlighted by a most impressive complete-game, three-hit shutout from Brookman who struck out three batters and only threw 71 pitches. What made Brookman’s performance even more impressive was that the Saints led 1-0 until the top of the seventh before scoring two insurance runs.
The Saints, however, would lose five of their next seven to drop to 6-7. St. Helena would need to win four of five to record its first winning season since 1982 and three of five to have its first nonlosing campaign since 1988 (the Saints went 13-13 that season).
St. Helena would go on to win four straight including the aforementioned 5-0 win over Fort Bragg in the lidlifter of a doubleheader. The Saints entered the twinbill with wins over Clear Lake (8-1), Cloverdale (8-2), and Lower Lake (11-1).
What I remember most about the day of the Fort Bragg doubleheader was interviewing three members of the 1982 team (Tom Johnston, Dan Beltrami and Tim O’Leary) during the game. I had set up time to interview them beforehand because I was confident the Saints would get at least a split of the doubleheader. The 1982 Saints went 9-7 but closed the season losing four straight.
What it meant: The 2005 season did not generate any immediate momentum as hoped as the Saints had losing seasons from 2006-2010. Densberger was forced out after 2006. Kirt Brower coached the team in 2007 before Dan Parker’s stint lasted from 2008-2009. Brandon Farrell, who is the Saints football coach, took over from 2010-2012. Darrell Quirici has been the coach ever since that time.
St. Helena achieved three consecutive CIF North Coast Section Div. IV playoff seasons including a 9-2 win over Fortuna to give the Saints their first postseason win since 1978.
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