EPHRATA — Wilder Baseball pulled off an impressive sweep before falling to a familiar nemesis at the Senior Babe Ruth state baseball tournament.
Wilder defeated the tournament’s two hosts, the Columbia Basin River Bandits 9-5 and the Columbia Basin River Dogs 3-2, on Tuesday before falling to Lakeside Recovery 6-3 on Wednesday morning.
By finishing in the top three at the tournament, Wilder clinches a spot in the Pacific Northwest Regional tournament next week in Calgary, Alberta.
In the sixth meeting of the season between the teams, Wilder led Lakeside Recovery 3-2 heading into the sixth inning.
Lakeside scored four runs in that inning on two singles, four walks, a hit batter and an error.
Wilder’s Brady Konopaski singled with one out in the bottom of the sixth and made his way to third base on an error before being stranded.
Evan Hurn led off the home half of the seventh with a single, but was forced out on a fielder’s choice, and two straight flyouts ended the game with Larsson Chapman standing on first base.
Hurn also had a double and drove in two runs for Wilder. Eathen Boyer singled and scored a pair of runs, and Gochnour added a double.
Wilder starter Tanner Rhodefer took the loss with three hits, three strikeouts and six walks in 5 2/3 innings.
Janson Pederson pitched the final 1 1/3 innings and struck out one and gave up one hit.
Barring a matchup at regionals, Lakeside Recovery wins the season series with Wilder 3-2 (the teams also played to a tie last month in Ephrata).
The Pacific Northwest Regional begins Tuesday.
Lakeside Recovery 6, Wilder 3
Lakeside 2 0 0 0 0 4 0 — 6 5 3
Wilder 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 — 3 5 3
WP- Soth; LP- Rhodefer
Pitching Statistics
Lakeside Recovery: Soth 7 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 K, 0 BB.
Wilder: Rhodefer 5 2/3 IP, 3 H, 6 R, 2 ER, 3 K, 6 BB; Pederson 1 1/3 IP, H, 0 R, K, BB.
Hitting Statistics
Lakeside Recovery: Jones 1-4, R; Hughes 1-3, R; DeCamp 1-3; Graterol 1-2.
Wilder: Hurn 2-2, 2B, 2 RBI; Boyer 1-3, 2 R; Gochnour 1-3, 2B, R; Konopaski 1-3; Chapman 0-3, RBI.
American Legion
North Kitsap AA 9, Crosscutters 7
POULSBO — The Olympic Crosscutters dropped their American Legion AA North Division finale, but not for lack of trying.
The Cutters stole 15 bases in 18 attempts during Tuesday’s game at North Kitsap High School.
Gavin Velarde had three steals, and Dillon McEdwards, Tyrus Beckett, Daniel Harker and Nigel Christian swiped two bases apiece.
Velarde also had three hits, including a double.
Olympic stole six bases in a four-run sixth inning that cut North Kitsap’s lead from 9-3 to 9-7. The inning ended, however, when Logan Shaw was caught stealing third.
The Cutters out-hit North Kitsap 9-8, but Olympic committed five errors and its three pitchers — Austin Hilliard, Eli Harrison and Cole Dotson — allowed eight walks.
The Cutters open the American Legion AA Area 2 district tournament at Civic Field in Port Angeles on Friday at 7 p.m.
The eight-team district tournament runs through Sunday. The top three finishers plus Capital and Olympia advance to the state tournament in Lacey and Olympia later this month.
North Kitsap 9, Crosscutters 7
Crosscutters 1 2 0 0 0 4 0 — 7 9 5
North Kitsap 3 1 2 1 2 0 x — 9 8 3
WP- Ryan; LP- Hilliard
Pitching Statistics
Crosscutters: Hilliard 2 2/3 IP, 4 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 3 K, 5 BB; Harrison 1 1/3 IP, H, R, BB; C. Dotson 2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 K, 2 BB.
North Kitsap: Ryan 5 IP, 6 H, 6 R, 4 ER, 2 K, 6 BB; Wlodarchack 2 IP, 3 H, R, 2 K.
Hitting Statistics
Crosscutters: Velarde 3-3, 2B, R, 3 SB; Christian 2-4, R, 2 SB; Prater 1-5, R, RBI, SB; Shaw 1-2, 2 BB, RBI, SB; Harker 1-4, 2 SB; Beckett 1-3, R, 2 SB; McEdwards 0-0, R, 2 SB; Earley 0-3, R, SB.
North Kitsap: Crowley 2-2, R; Milyard 2-3, R, 2 RBI, SB; Ryan 1-3, R; Martin 1-4, R, 2 SB; Iballa 1-2, R, 2 SB; Heath 1-4, R, RBI.
