Softball: San Rafael trio helped lead Grapettes on historic run at Nationals
Powered in part by a trio of San Rafael softball players, the California Grapettes 14U team made a historic run through the Premier Girls Fastpitch (PGF) National Championships earlier this month.
Pitchers Kelsey McNair and Thomara Drummer plus catcher Angel Amesa — who are all set to play for the Bulldogs in the spring — helped the Grapettes win nine consecutive games at the tournament, making it all the way to the title game.
“I think everyone went into it to win,” McNair said. “That’s what really pulled the team together. We’re a scrappy team that comes together and plays to win. That was the mindset going in.”
The Stockton-based Grapettes feature another San Rafael connection in coach Mike “Moose” McNair, who also coaches the San Rafael High team. McNair, Kelsey’s father, said the second-place finish marked the best result for any team from Northern California, tying a mark set by a Sorcerer Softball team that featured former Marin Catholic pitcher Annabel Teperson.
The Grapettes are no stranger to the PGF Nationals — pitchers McNair and Drummer have combined to compete in 11 tournaments already in their young careers.
The Grapettes finished 17th in 2019, “which is pretty good — well used to be pretty good,” Mike McNair said with a laugh. The Grapettes qualified again this year — the 2020 tournament was canceled because of the pandemic — winning five tournaments and placing second in two others as part of an overall 88-18-4 record.
San Rafael battery
Drummer and Kelsey McNair helped lead the Grapettes all season long on both the mound and at the plate.
Drummer piled up a record of 50-9 with an earned-run average of 1.86 while Kelsey McNair went 27-5 with a 1.92 ERA. Drummer hit .440 with 89 RBIs while only striking out 16 times and Kelsey McNair hit .423 with 74 RBIs against just 18 strikeouts.
“Thomara has a very calm demeanor when pitching in the circle, letting almost nothing affect her,” Mike McNair said. “She’s a quiet player who just gets her job done. … Kelsey is a feisty, very intimidating player who is loud on the field and off the field. She’s extremely athletic.”
Amesa serves as the catcher for both players and has developed a chemistry and connection with them over years of games with the Grapettes and countless pitching lessons at the Line Drive batting cages in San Rafael.
“Whenever we go to pitching lessons, she’s always the one catching me,” Drummer said. “She knows my favorite pitches so it’s easy to communicate with her.”
Amesa hasn’t caught for Kelsey McNair for as long but the two formed a strong battery during their freshman season at San Rafael High last year. Drummer, a freshman this year, is set to join them in the spring.
“If Mike calls a pitch I don’t exactly agree with and I’m trying to call time — sometimes you aren’t allowed to call time — so if I’m trying to change (the pitch) because I know this kid has hit that certain pitch well,” Kelsey McNair said, “I look at Angel and give her a signal and she knows exactly what pitch I’m going to throw.”
The three players are all best friends and come from the same town — a rarity in travel ball, according to McNair, because teams can pull top players from large areas.
“The best support I could possibly have while playing softball and doing this is having those friends and those parents and my parents by my side,” Kelsey McNair said. “They push me harder than everyone else.”
Although the three players have formed a close bond over their shared passion for softball, Kelsey McNair detailed that her relationship with Amesa had an interesting origin story.
The two players met when they were eight years old during a San Rafael rec league game. One team had too many players while the other had too few. Kelsey McNair ended up switching teams and playing shortstop while Amesa was in the outfield. At one point in the game Kelsey McNair thought Amesa was playing too shallow and let her know about it.
“I told her to move back,” Kelsey McNair said. “She was kind of fed up. … I threatened to punch her (if she didn’t move back) and that’s how we officially met.
“We reconnected a few years ago and she was my favorite person to hang around.”
Run to the final
The Grapettes swept through three pool play games at Nationals then rolled through several winners bracket games to ensure they’d place higher than 17th this time around.
With seven consecutive wins under their belts, a pair of high-stakes games against California opposition — the SoCal A’s and Sorcerer — was all that stood between the Grapettes and the title game.
“The game against the SoCal As was very intense,” Amesa said. “That was a big factor in getting all the way to the championship game.”
Drummer pitched a complete game against the A’s, who homered in the seventh inning to pull within a single run. Drummer, who helped her own cause by going 2 for 3 at the plate, shut the door on the A’s to put the Grapettes into the semifinals with a 3-2 victory.
“Getting that last out was a big celebration because we realized we had gotten really far in the tournament,” Amesa said.
Kelsey McNair started the semifinal game against Sorcerer, allowing two runs in five innings of work. The Grapettes again held a 3-2 lead and Drummer came on for the final two innings to push the win streak to nine and leave the Grapettes as the final team standing in the winners bracket.
“We went into the game with so much energy,” Kelsey McNair said. “Although we worked together really well, I’m not sure we normally have that much energy.”
Although the tournament was double elimination, because the championship game was televised, the team that emerged from the winners bracket could be eliminated with a single loss. The Grapettes fell to the Virginia Unity, which reeled off 14 consecutive wins to emerge from the losers bracket, 7-0 in the title game.
“It was a good experience,” Amesa said. “I’m happy it happened even if we lost. It was still one of those experiences where I wouldn’t want to throw it away. Being there with my other best friends was so beneficial.”