PORT ANGELES — A balk and a sacrifice solved the pitchers’ duel the Olympic Crosscutters had with North Kitsap.
The Crosscutters scored twice in the sixth inning to beat North Kitsap 2-1 in American Legion AA baseball action at Civic Field on Monday.
Lane Dotson led off the bottom of the sixth with a walk and then moved to third on Andy Johnston’s double.
That set up Logan Shaw with runners at second and third with no outs.
Dotson scored on a balk to tie the score at 1-1. Johnston moved to third.
Then, facing an 0-2 count, Shaw hit a deep fly to left field that brought in Johnston and gave the Crosscutters a 2-1 lead.
Olympic’s Dane Bradow allowed a walk and a single — only the second and third base runners he allowed — in the top of the seventh, but then retired the next two batters to end the game.
Bradow earned the win for his 3 2/3 innings of relief work. He took over in the fourth inning with one out and the bases loaded and struck out the first two batters he faced to end the threat.
Bradow fanned five and allowed only one hit and one and one walk. He also hit one batter.
The Crosscutters’ pitchers allowed only two hits.
Starter James Thayer pitched three innings, during which he struck out three, walked one and allowed one hit.
Cole Dotson relieved Thayer, but gave up three walks and run while only recording one out. Then Bradow came in and got Olympic out of the jam.
The Cutters, meanwhile, managed only five hits, and two of those came in the two-run sixth inning — Matthew Bainbridge followed Shaw’s sacrifice RBI with a single.
Johnston had two of those hits, including a double. Lane Dotson also doubled, and Gavin Velarde had a single.
The victory earned the Crosscutters a revenge for a league loss to North Kitsap last week, and improve to 2-1 in the North Division (4-2-1 overall).
The Crosscutters have a busy weekend ahead, with games Saturday, Sunday and Monday, beginning against Whidbey on Saturday at 6 p.m. at Volunteer Field in Anacortes. The Cutters’ next home game is a doubleheader at Civic Field in Port Angeles on Monday.
Crosscutters 2, North Kitsap 1
North Kitsap 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 — 1 2 2
Crosscutters 0 0 0 0 0 2 x — 2 5 2
WP- D. Bradow; LP- Richardson
Pitching Statistics
North Kitsap: Schmidt 5 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 K, BB; Richardson IP, 2 H, 2 ER, BB.
Crosscutters: Thayer 3 IP, H, 0 R, 3 K, BB; C. Dotson 1/3 IP, 0 H, ER, K, 3 BB; D. Bradow 3 2/3 IP, H, 0 R, 5 K, BB, HBP.
Hitting Statistics
North Kitsap: Richardson 2-4.
Crosscutters: Velarde 1-3, SB; L. Dotson 1-2, 2B, BB, R; Johnston 2-2, 2B, R; Bainbridge 1-2; Shaw 0-2, RBI.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated to correct the location of Sunday’s games. They are at Volunteer Field in Anacortes, not the Volunteer Field in Port Angeles. Monday’s doubleheader will be at Civic Field in Port Angeles.
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Compiled using team reports.
