CASTLE ROCK — The Chimacum baseball team advanced to the final four of the Class 1A state tournament for the second time in three years on Saturday.
Chimacum moved on after knocking off Castle Rock 5-4 and Bellevue Christian 10-0 to claim the District II Regional Championship and a spot at Yakima’s Parker Stadium next Saturday.
The Cowboys dropped host Castle Rock with clutch hitting by Nisqually League MVP Landon Cray and some strong relief pitching from fellow freshman Quinn Eldridge.
Cray singled to right field to bring home the game-winning run in the bottom of the sixth inning and Eldridge pitched 4 2/3 innings of no-hit relief with four strikeouts to lead Chimacum to the win.
“Going into the weekend I really thought Castle Rock was the team to beat and I felt if we could get past them we had a good shot [of advancing to the final four],” Chimacum coach Loren Bishop said.
Chimacum wasted no time in taking the lead in the Regional final against Bellevue Christian, scoring nine runs in the first three innings to bury the Vikings.
“There was no letdown at all,” Bishop said.
“The kids came out ready and started hitting from the get-go.”
Cray started the game off with a triple before Elijah Roulst knocked him home with an RBI single.
Cray kept up his solid performance on the mound, allowing just two hits in four innings of work and striking out six. Austin McConnell went the rest of the way, allowing no hits with three strikeouts.
The Cowboys (17-4 overall) will see a familiar foe in Naches Valley in Saturday’s 1 p.m. semifinal.
Chimacum knocked off the Rangers 4-2 to win the 2007 state championship.
“They’ll be after us after that one,” Bishop said of the Rangers (21-2).
Chimacum 10, Bellevue Christ. 0
Bellevue Christ. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 – 0 2 4
Chimacum 3 4 2 0 1 0 0 — 10 12 0
WP- Cray; LP- Unreported
Pitching Statistics
Chimacum: Cray 4IP, 6K; McConnell 3IP, 3K
Hitting Statistics
Chimacum: Cray 3-4; Manix 2-4 (4RBIS); Dukek 2-3, (2RBI), McConnell 2-4, RBI
Chimacum 5, Castle Rock 4
Castle Rock 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 – 4 4 1
Chimacum 1 1 0 2 0 1 0 — 5 6 1
WP- Q. Eldridge; LP-Unreported
Pitching Statistics
Chimacum: C. Eldridge 2.1 IP, 2K; Q. Eldridge 4.2IP, 4K
Hitting Statistics
Chimacum: Cray 2-3, RBI; McConnell 1-1, (2HBP); T. Eldridge 1-1 (sac. fly).
River Ridge 7, Sequim 4
YELM — The Wolves’ first state visit in 12 years lasted one game.
A brief spat of wildness in the bottom of the fourth inning, which included three straight hit batters by lefty Alex Gillis, led to a six-run outburst from River Ridge that spelled doom for Sequim.
“We played six good innings,” Sequim coach Dave Ditlefsen said. “It’s obviously disappointing, but there was no regrets and no second guessing. They played hard to the end.”
Sequim (11-12) had tied the game up at 1-1 in the top of the fourth before the Hawks’ offensive explosion in the bottom half.
“[Gillis] was throwing really well,” Ditlefsen said. “They weren’t getting much off of him until the fourth.”
Still, Gillis (4-3) was tagged with the loss, going 3 2/3 innings with five strikeouts, four hit batters, three walks, four hits and seven earned runs.
Spencer Middleton, who came on with the bases loaded in the fourth and gave up a bases-clearing double, went 2 1/3 innings with zero earned runs.
He is one of six seniors that will depart the program, including Ben Omdal, Reed Omdal, Jason Baker, Matt Holloway and Chris O’Bryant.
Jason Baker, Reed Omdal and Middleton each had two hits in their last game, which was the Wolves first state tilt since 1997.
“It was a great accomplishment for this group of kids [to reach state],” Ditlefsen said. “It was a fun group of kids to work with.
“This was my fourth year as head coach, and for these seniors, their fourth year in the program. For them to come in at the same time I did and make it to state this year was pretty special.”
River Ridge 7, Sequim 4
Sequim 0 0 0 1 2 1 0 – 4 7 2
River Ridge 1 0 0 6 0 0 X — 7 5 1
WP- Boyle; LP- Gillis (4-3)
Pitching Statistics
River Ridge: Boyle 7IP, 11K.
Sequim: Gillis 3.2IP, 5K, 4HBP, 3BB, 4 hits, 7ER; Middleton 2.1IP, 3K, 0BB, 1 hit, 0ER.
Hitting Statistics
Sequim: Baker 2-4 (R, RBI); Middleton 2-3 (RBI); R. Omdal 2-3 (R, RBI, SB), Yamamoto 1-3 (BB, R, SB).
