Sebastiani Walk-off Kept Hopes Alive
By Jordan Kimball
Editor’s Note: Jordan Kimball, Beat Writer for the Stompers this season as part of the team’s Internship program, called working with the Stompers “an amazing experience,” adding, “I had complete access to all the players and coaches.” Kimball wrote the story below, heavily edited for length, and all the stories on the team website, totaling more than fifty articles. He also handled all the team’s social media, including running their Twitter account.
The aspiring sports writer is entering his sophomore year at Syracuse University, where he was accepted early admission to study Magazine, News and Digital Journalism in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communication. This year he will be Assistant Sports Editor for the university paper, The Daily Orange. The Redwood High School graduate lives in Larkspur. (The stories are reprinted from the Sonoma Stompers website.)
The crack of the bat silenced the dugout chatter. The entire Stompers’ bench rose to their feet and straddled the fence. Five relief pitchers from the bullpen exited onto the field. For a split second, everyone at Arnold Field stood still. Time slowed as eyes fixed on the ball soaring toward left field.
In that moment, Nic Sebastiani (pictured sliding into homebase) was the final heartbeat of a team on the brink of elimination. The Stompers trailed by one run. They were hanging onto the defending CCL North champion Walnut Creek Crawdads by a thread. The Crawdads had the momentum. Sonoma had Sebastiani.
After taking pitch No. 1 from Walnut Creek reliever Brady Wilson, Sebastiani readjusted his batting gloves. His feet remained planted in the batter’s box. He didn’t move an inch. Chants echoed across Arnold Field until Sebastiani drove Wilson’s second pitch down the left field line. Because of the California Collegiate League’s ghost runner rule, Max Handron was on second base. As the ball traveled over the fence, Handron crossed home, then came the hometown kid.
“This is definitely the coolest baseball moment I’ve ever had,” Sebastiani said postgame. “I can’t really describe what I’m feeling.”
“That was just a great, outstanding moment for the kid. He’s one heck of a ball player,” Stompers manager Zack Pace said of Sebastiani postgame. “To do it in front of this crowd tonight, in front of his family, in that moment, it doesn’t really get much bigger than that.”
With the 3-2 victory, the Stompers (32-17, 25-15 CCL) got to head to their first-ever CCL Championship series to face the defending champion Conejo Oaks, a SoCal team representing parts of Ventura and L.Å. County.
Conejo won the CCL Championship in 2018 when the Stompers still played in the Pacific Association. After five failed attempts to battle back, the Oaks finally returned to glory last season when they defeated the Crawdads in two games by a combined score of 11-2.
It’s no secret the Oaks were the team to beat this season. Last year, they finished 24-12 before cruising through the CCL postseason. They controlled last season from start to finish and repeated the feat this year.
The CCL South and North rarely mix, so Conejo didn’t see the competition Sonoma did. But they coasted through the South’s seven other teams to claim the one-seed for the second straight year.
Sonoma Manager Zack Pace has always emphasized capitalizing on the opponent’s mistakes, but this year, his squad has taken it to a different level. People often call it the “Stompers’ special.” It’s as simple as tying games, taking leads and mounting comebacks on wild pitches and catchers’ mistakes.
Conejo committed 65 errors this season, the second-most in the CCL, while the Stompers’ defense has dialed in. And If there was to be one offensive player to lead the Stompers to a CCL Championship, it was Sebastiani. After beginning 2025 slowly and being sidelined for three weeks due to injury, the Santa Rosa Junior College sophomore has been unstoppable since. He’s raised his batting average to .300 through 26 games and 90 at-bats. After not hitting a home run since June 29, Sebastiani’s long ball in the CCL North finals powered the Stompers to the CCL Championship three-game series.
One swing can define a season. Against the Crawdads, it went the Stompers’ way. But in Game One of the Championship series, Tyler Holley, at the plate for the Oaks, shifted the game’s momentum in an instant. In the sixth inning, with the score knotted at one apiece, Holley roped a 96-mile-per-hour double off the right-field wall to clear the bases and give the Oaks a 3-1 lead that they never relinquished.
That left two more games to play, but the Stompers had to win the second game to survive, and they just didn’t have it in them. Oaks Pitcher Gabe Howard was lights out all year. Sporting a 0.75 ERA across six showings, there was no doubt he would come through when the lights shined brightest. The Stompers had a brief moment of hope when Sebastiani’s bat came alive in the ninth, with everything on the line. He tripled before scoring on a single by Sielken, but it was far too late, and Sonoma’s season ended with a 9-3 defeat.
It was the furthest the Stompers had made it since joining the CCL in 2023, and, when looking at their season, there are far more positives than negatives. That includes a 32-win season under seven-year manager Zack Pace; Leading the CCL North in the standings for more than a month; and a CCL Championship appearance.
Just two years ago, the Stompers had recently transitioned from the Pacific Association — which they won in 2016 — to a collegiate summer league focused on forming the next generation of college baseball stars.
They grew from the ground. Pace adapted alongside a staff of Paul Maytorena, Mike Nunes, Casey Gilroy and Dave Hoch, among others. A brand new roster was formed, and expectations were minimal. But four years later, with its back against the wall, Sonoma was competing for it all.
Persistence. Gritty. Resilient. Relentless. Those words defined the 2025 Sonoma Stompers. While their season ended short of a championship, they proved they’re built to rise again.
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