PORT ANGELES — The Port Angeles 15-year-old Junior Babe Ruth team rolled through the state tournament like it was the Boston Red Sox and the rest of the teams were the National League West.
North Olympic went undefeated in the state championships to advance to the regional tournament, set to start July 28 for a six-day run in Lewiston, Idaho.
Regionals is the stepping stone to the World Series.
“We played with a lot of heart,” Port Angeles manager John Qualls said.
Port Angeles went 6-0 in tourney play after pounding defending state champion Central Basin 12-2 in six innings in the semifinals and then beating powerhouse North Kitsap 6-2 in the championship game Sunday at Volunteer Field.
“We are a great, solid all-around team,” Qualls said. “We play great defense, we hit the ball well and we have great pitching.”
North Olympic 10-runned every team until North Kitsap in the title game.
And one of the most amazing things is that Port Angeles dominated the field despite playing the tourney without one of its top pitchers, Colin Wheeler.
Wheeler had a strong outing two weekends ago against the elite team Northwest Titans in the Wilder Baseball Firecracker Classic tournament.
But in an accident off the field, a piece of scrap metal lodged in one of his eyes and his doctor, as a precaution, ordered Wheeler to take five days off.
“He will be with us at regionals,” Qualls said.
This Port Angeles team already has regional experience. The entire squad except for Cody Sullivan and Jesse Hansen represented North Olympic at the 11-year-old Cal Ripken regional tournament.
It is all good news for Port Angeles High School because most of the team will be sophomores this coming school year. Easton Napiontek is the only one who will be a freshman.
But he doesn’t play younger than the other players.
“He is 6-foot-5 and he is quite an athlete,” Qualls said.
Against North Kitsap in the title game, Port Angeles scored two runs in the first and three in the fourth to take a 5-0 lead.
North Kitsap scored two runs in the top of the sixth but Port Angeles answered right back with another run in the bottom of the sixth for the final 6-2 score.
A.J. Konopaski (2-0) went the distance on the mound, allowing just four hits in the seven-inning game. This was his second start in the tournament. He also won the first game Thursday.
North Kitsap was hitting a lot of grounders off of Konopaski.
“A.J. left it up to our defense, and our defense came through,” Qualls said.
Sullivan was a perfect 3-for-3 at the plate with three RBIs, a triple, a double and a run scored.
“Sullivan stepped up and he had an amazing game,” Qualls said.
Hansen was 1-for-3 with two RBIs and a double while Daniel Jenkins scored two runs and Kyler Morgan had an RBI and scored a run.
In the semifinals, Port Angeles exploded for six runs in the first inning to take Central Basin out of the game.
It was 10-0 after three innings.
Sullivan (2-0) and Anthony Sandars combined for a three-hitter on the mound. It also was Sullivan’s second start of the tournament. Sullivan gave up no hits and struck out two in three innings.
Sandars was the only relief pitcher Port Angeles used in the tourney.
Konopaski, Sullivan and Hansen started all games.
“We had a comfortable lead, and so we brought Anthony Sandars in,” Qualls said. “He threw just great.”
Derek Crain went 2-for-3 for Port Angeles with four RBIs, a double and two runs while Konopaski was 2-for-3 with three runs, a triple and RBI.
Sullivan went 2-for-4 with a run, RBI-walk-off single in the sixth inning.
Daniel Pitz was 2-for-2 with an RBI and run.
