SILVERDALE — After a 4-10-1 start to the season, the Port Angeles baseball team is in the state tournament.
The Roughriders erupted for six runs in the fifth inning, all with two outs, to crush Fife 10-3 on Saturday morning, qualifying for the state 2A tournament. The Riders ended up finishing second in the district tournament, losing the championship game to Bainbridge 9-4, but it doesn’t matter as Port Angeles is still moving on to state.
The Riders entered the District 3 tournament as a low No. 7 seed after finishing third in the Olympic League. At one point, the Riders were 3-6 in league play and just making the postseason was in serious jeopardy.
Port Angeles (12-11-1) went on to win eight out its next nine games, including 3-1 in the district tournament.
Even with the slow start to the season, the Riders were pitching well and playing solid defense. What has changed is the offense as Port Angeles is getting more timely hits and scoring a lot more runs. The Riders scored 22 runs in their three postseason wins and 84 runs over an eight-game winning streak (10.5 runs a game).
The Saturday morning game was played mostly in a downpour. Despite the poor conditions, the Riders made just one error while Fife made five, some of them costly. Pitchers Kody Williams and Brayden Martin combined to only allow three walks despite the wet ball.
Fife got four hits in the first inning and got up 2-0 on the Riders to open the game. However, after the rough start to the game, Williams clamped down, not allowing a single run over the next five innings. Port Angeles clawed back with a run in the third and another in the fourth to even the score at 2-2.
The wheels came off the cart for Fife in the fifth. The inning began innocently enough as Jordan Shumway got on base on an error. He was sacrificed to second base and Fife quickly got a second out on a fly ball.
Trae Hanan then hit an RBI single to give the Riders a lead they would never relinquish. He moved to second on a wild pitch and then Luke Flodstrom, coming up as a pinch-hitter, smacked an RBI base hit. Bryce DeLeon bunted and got on base with a single and Nathan Basden walked.
Fife made an error on an Alex Angevine grounder as Port Angeles scored again to make it 5-2. Josiah Gooding was hit by a pitch, scoring DeLeon from third, and then Basden came in to score on an error on a pickoff attempt to make it 8-2. The inning featured three hits and three Fife errors.
From that point on, Williams and Martin were able to cruise, throwing strikes with a big lead. Williams went six innings, allowing 10 hits and two earned runs. He struck out five. Martin struck out two in the seventh inning.
Hanan finished the game 2-for-3 with two runs scored, while Flodstrom was 2-for-3. Gooding had a hit and two RBIs.
Port Angeles 10, Fife 3
PA 0 0 1 1 6 0 2 — 10 10 1
Fife 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 — 3 10 5
Pitching
Port Angeles — Williams 6 IP, 10 H, 2 ER, 5 K; Martin IP, 2 K.
Hitting
Port Angeles — Hanan 2-3, 2 R, RBI, 2 BB; Flodstrom 2-3, R, RBI; Angevine 1-4, 2 R, RBI, BB; Gooding 1-4, 2 RBI; Shumway 1-3, R RBI, 2 BB; Perry 1-1, RBI.
Bainbridge 9, Port Angeles 4
It was the third game of the year between Bainbridge and Port Angeles and in all three games, the Riders gave the Olympic League champion Spartans all they could handle. Port Angeles lost two one-run games in the regular season to Bainbridge, including one game that went eight innings, and the Riders had the lead for much of the district championship game.
Port Angeles jumped all over Bainbridge early, scoring four runs in the second inning with Basden, Angevine and Bryce DeLeon also getting RBI singles.
The Roughriders couldn’t hold the lead, however, as the Spartans responded with three runs in the fourth and four more in the fifth to pull away.
Angevine finished 2-for-3 with two RBIs and a stolen base, while Kody Williams was 2-for-2 with a double. DeLeon also scored a run.
The Riders used a pitcher-by-committee approach to this game, using four pitchers.
The state 2A tournament begins Saturday. Port Angeles got a No. 11 seed and will play No. 6 seed Tumwater (18-6) with the site and time to be determined. North Kitsap is one of the third-place teams that qualified for state as the Olympic League largely dominated the district tournament. Fife is the fourth team that qualified for state out of the tournament.
The state semifinals and finals will begin May 30 at Joe Martin Stadium in Bellingham.
Bainbridge 9, Port Angeles 4
PA 0 4 0 0 0 0 x — 4 8 1
BI 0 2 0 3 4 x x — 9 8 2
Pitching
Port Angeles — DeLeon 3 IP, 5 H, 5 ER, 2 K; Politika IP, H; Stratford 0.1 IP, 2 H, ER; Martin 0.2 IP, 2 H, ER.
Hitting
Port Angeles — Angevine 2-3, 2 RBI, SB; Williams 2-2, 2B; DeLeon 1-2, R, RBI; Basden 1-2, RBI.
Crosspoint Christian 6, Quilcene 1
LACEY — Quilcene was one-hit by Crosspoint Christian in the 1B District 1/2 tournament championship game in a 6-1 loss, but the Rangers had already qualified for the state 1B tournament and will still be moving on.
Oliver Hopkins hit a double and gave up just four hits himself in six innings of work. He struk out seven and allowed five earned runs. Logan Castensen struck out two in one inning of work.
The 1B state tournament begins Tuesday. Quilcene (12-3) is a home team and a No. 6 seed and will No. 11 seed Wahkiakum at a time and place to be determined. The finals and semifinals will begin May 30 at Carlon Park in Selah.
Crosspoint Chr. 6, Quilcene 1
XP 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 2 — 6 4 1
Quil. 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 1 1 3
Pitching
Quilcene — Hopkins 6 IP, 4 H, 5 ER, 7 K; Carstensen IP, 2 K.
Hitting
Quilcene — Hopkins 1-3, 2B.
