PORT ANGELES — Wilder Senior was plagued by poor pitching and uncharacteristic mistakes in the field and on the base paths in a 10-6 loss to Lakeside Recovery in the team’s second game of the Senior Babe Ruth State Tournament at
Civic Field.
“I told the kids we didn’t play our best game,” Wilder coach Mike Politika said.
“We gave them seven runs and we can’t expect to win tournaments playing that way.”
The game started in a promising fashion for Wilder.
Batting first as the visiting team at its home field, Wilder scored three early runs.
Brady Konopaski walked and moved to second when Larsson Chapman laced a high fastball into the hole between first and second bases.
Tanner Gochnour then smoked an RBI double down the third base line to score Konopaski.
Gochnour finished 3 for 4 at the plate with two runs scored for Wilder.
Slugging third baseman Travis Paynter then hit a soft nibbler down the third base line to score Chapman.
Paynter was able to beat the throw to first base, which went wild, allowing Gochnour to head home.
Starting pitcher Jordan Shepherd was able to get out of the first inning without too much difficulty for Wilder after runners reached on an error and a hit batter.
Wilder missed out on a good scoring opportunity in the second inning due to sloppy base running.
Dusty Bates singled with one out, but was later caught trying to steal third base.
Konopaski reached on an infield single, but was gunned out at first by Lakeside catcher Vinny Guinasso when Konopaski failed to return to the bag in time after a pitch to Chapman.
Shepherd struggled to find the strike zone in the second inning and got the early hook, having completed just 1 2/3 innings pitched and allowing five of Lakeside’s six runs in a big second inning.
“It was like that both ways,” Politika said after being asked if he felt home plate umpire Scott Ramsey’s strike zone was too small.
“He does have a really tight zone, and that’s one thing I told our pitchers: you can’t let that effect what you are trying to do. You have to adjust and figure that out.”
Shepherd walked the first batter he faced, then allowed a single to Lakeside shortstop Sumair Shah.
A sacrifice fly by Jace Goforth got Lakeside on the scoreboard.
One batter later Nathan Ishii belted a two-run double to the left-center gap to tie the game.
Tommy Swinscoe then brought Shepherd’s day to a close when he doubled to right field to score Ishii.
Wilder reliever Ricky Crawford was unable to immediately stop the bleeding, allowing a single to the first batter he faced and letting Swinscoe score on a wild pitch.
Another wild pitch from Crawford brought Lakeside’s sixth run across the plate.
“[Lakeside] was a good team,” Politika said. “They pitched and hit it well and played good defense.”
“One through nine were a threat at the plate, and they were relaxed at bat and didn’t press.”
Wilder cut the gap to 6-4 on a Paynter RBI double to the 355 feet sign in left field in the top of the third.
Gochnour scored the run after singling to left with one out.
Wilder pulled within one, 6-5, after Tanner Rhodefer singled and later scored on an overthrow in the top of the fourth.
Crawford settled down and pitched a 1-2-3 third inning for Wilder.
And despite allowing a walk and a single with two outs, Crawford was able to get out of the fourth unscathed after getting Lakeside designated hitter Erik Erikson to pop out to shallow left field.
Pitching woes returned for Wilder in the fifth and sixth inning as reliever James Grubb allowed two runs apiece in each frame.
Grubb allowed a single, a double and two straight walks to make it 7-5 Lakeside in the fifth inning.
He then yielded another Lakeside run on a single in the fifth when Luke Watanabe’s routine pop fly fell in for a hit to shallow right field.
Grubb walked the first two batters he faced to open the sixth and was pulled in place of Curan Bradley.
Lakeside scored its ninth and 10th runs to take a 10-5 lead with Wilder coming up for its final at-bat.
Chapman doubled with one out in the top of the seventh and later scored on an Eathen Boyer sacrifice fly to right field, but Wilder could come no closer.
Lakeside Recovery 10, Wilder Senior 6
Wilder Senior 3 0 1 1 0 0 1 — 6 12 2
Lakeside Recovery 0 6 0 0 2 2 x — 10 10 2
WP- Woodey; LP- Grubb
Pitching Statistics
Wilder Senior: Shepherd 1 2/3 IP, 4 H, 5 R, 4 ER, BB, HBP, K; Crawford 2 2/3 IP, 2 H, ER, K, BB; Grubb IP, 4 ER, 4 BB, 2 K; Bradley IP, H.
Lakeside Recovery: Woodey 6 IP, 5 R, 4 ER, 10 H, 4 K, 4 BB; Curnutt IP, 2 H, ER, BB.
Hitting Statistics
Wilder Senior: Gochnour 3-4, 2B, RBI, 2 R; Paynter 2-2, 2B, 2 BB, 2 RBI, Chapman 2-4, 2B, R, Shepherd 1-1, 2B;
Lakeside Recovery: Ishii 1-3, 2B, 2 RBI; Shah 3-4, 2 2B, RBI, R; Anderson 2-4, Watanabe 2-4, RBI; Swinscoe 1-3, RBI, R, BB.
