PORT ANGELES — Wilder Baseball Club’s youngest squad captured the American Legion District 1 A Tournament and defended its home turf with three wins over the weekend at Volunteer Field.
Wilder also fields Legion-ball AA (Juniors) and AAA (Seniors) clubs.
The A squad, made up of players from Port Angeles, Sequim and Forks, bested Anacortes 8-7, edged the Sedro-Woolley Outlaws 16-14 in a game team manager Mike Politika called “a barn-burner,” and took down Sedro-Woolley once again in the championship, 6-2.
“From day one to now, we really have improved,” Politika said. “We started off fairly slow; we were a .500 club halfway through the season, and of late, we have ran off a nine-game winning streak, so our trajectory is where we want to be.”
Rylan Politika went the distance on the mound in the title game, tossing a five-hitter with no walks and five strikeouts.
Politika also doubled home a run and scored to help his own cause on the hill to earn tournament MVP honors.
“Rylan was our first guy to pitch a complete game this year, and Sedro-Woolley had hitters up and down the batting order,” Politika said of his nephew.
Josiah Gooding went 2-for-4 with a double, two runs and two RBIs in the championship game.
“Josiah Gooding had a great offensive weekend, going 6-for-11 with two doubles and an RBI,” Mike Politika said.
Alex Angevine also came through with a pair of title-game RBIs, and Joe Ritchie went 2-for-3 with an RBI.
“Alex played a great third base, and Josiah made some nice plays at shortstop [defensively],” Politika said. “We had a handful of double plays that got us out of innings.”
Ritchie doubled in a run and scored in Wilder’s tournament-opening 8-7 win over Anacortes. Tate Alton went 2-for-3 with two runs, and Angevine doubled and scored twice in the contest. Hunter Stratford came off the bench with a two-run single, and Gooding had two hits in the win.
Sedro-Woolley beat Wilder in two contests earlier this summer to take the tournament’s top seed, but Wilder overpowered the Outlaws in a 16-14 semifinal slugfest.
Forks’ Dylan Micheau went 2-for-2 with two RBIs and a run, while Gooding, Ritchie and Blake Sohlberg all doubled, with Sohlberg bringing in two runs and stealing two bases.
Braydan White also had two hits and scored two runs, and Politika and Luke Flodstrom each scored three runs.
“We are playing up to our potential, but there’s room for improvement, and I’m excited to see how we play at state,” Politika said.
Wilder A will prep for state with a nonleague game against Wollochet Baseball of Gig Harbor this afternoon at Volunteer Field.
They will begin double-elimination play at the eight-team state tournament at Spokane’s Al K. Jackson Field at 10 a.m. Monday against a Northeast Region squad.
