PORT ANGELES — Wilder Senior twice had to come from behind, including a huge deficit in their early game, to win the Firecracker Invitational championship.
Wilder Senior beat Lakeside Recovery 5-4 Monday night to win the trophy, scoring two runs in the bottom of the fifth to take the lead and holding on for dear life in a tense seventh inning.
Earlier in the day, Wilder Senior gave up seven runs in the first inning to fall way behind to the Centerfield Roosters, but the team responded with a 10-run second inning and then pitcher Brady Shimko slammed the door, going the final six innings and giving up wthree hits and one earned run as Wilder Senior won 14-8.
In the championship game, pitcher Curan Bradley was the star, going 6 2/3rds innings and giving up just six hits and a walk and four earned runs.
In the Roosters game, Bradley also had two hits, including a triple, an RBI and a run scored. He was named the MVP of the tournament.
“Bradley set the tone on the mound, getting us into the dugout,” said coach Karl Myers.
Bradley came within an out of a complete game win, but Lakeside Recovery didn’t go down without a fight. Lakeside got a leadoff walk, then was able to move the tying run to second on a groundout. Lakeside then missed a game-tying double down the right-field line by a couple of feet.
Eventually, Bradley was able to force an infield chopper, but the ball was hit too slowly for Wilder to get anyone out and it went for a hit. With runners at first and third and two out, Myers went to Bo Bradow to get the final out. Bradow was able to get Lakeside to hit a long, high fly ball to center that looked scary at first, but it was caught a few feet in front of the warning track.
Myers said he really wanted Bradley to finish the game because he deserved the complete-game victory.
“For three or four years, he’s worked his butt off for us. I wanted to give him the opportunity to finish what he started,” Myers said.
Myers said it’s great any time a team can win a tournament, but it’s special to win a hometown event.
“When you can win a tournament in front of your home town, that’s what it’s all about. These guys get it and appreciate the opportunity,” Myers said.
The offensive star of the game was Luke Angevine, recovering from a controversial ejection the day before on a collision at home plate. He hit a double, a triple, a walk and drove in two runs. Carson Jackson, who hit a ton the entire tournament, went 2 for 3 with a walk and a run scored. Gavin Guerrero had a hit, a stolen base and a run scored.
Hayden Woods had two hits and Kole Milyard had a hit, a walk, a stolen base and a run scored.
The game see-sawed back and forth with Wilder taking a 3-0 lead, then Lakeside responding with two runs in the fourth and two in the fifth to take a 4-3 lead. Wilder scored two in the bottomof the fifth to take the lead for good.
“Offensively, we were able to put the ball in play and put pressure on them,” Myers said.
Against the Roosters, Wilder Senior found themselves in deep trouble early, behind 8-2 after one and a half innings. In the bottom of the second, Wilder Senior blew up for 10 runs and then Shimko shut down the Roosters the rest of the way.
“Most impressive was the lack of panic/quit in them after going down 7-0 in the first inning against Centerfield. They put the gloves on and dug in for a battle and came back to win it. This is just indicative of the character of these guys and their ability to perform confidently when the situation turns up on them,” said Myers.
Jackson was the hitting star again, going 2 for 5 with a home run, two runs scored and an RBI. Gavin Guerrero was 3 for 3 with three runs scored, a walk and an RBI.
Hayden Woods was 2 for 3 with a run scored, three RBIs and a stolen base, while Joel Wood was 1 for 2 with two RBIs and two walks and Milyard was 1 for 2 with two runs scored and two RBIs. In all, Wilder Senior had 12 hits and seven walks in the game.
Wilder Senior won five out of six games in the tournament. The team’s lone loss was to Baseball Beyond Borders Sunday night, a game in which they made eight errors. Wilder responded by making zero errors in both the Monday games.
“Losing is not a loss if you learn from it. The kids did a good job of flushing it [the BBB game]. They did it as a unit and they did it together,” Myers said.
“This is a tough group of young men, they battled all weekend long for each other and came out the champions. Could not be more proud of the fight they had in them and the pride they took in fighting for one another,” he said.
Wilder Senior next plays at the Tacoma Community College Showcase beginning Thursday.
Wilder Sr. 5, Lakeside Recovery 4
LR 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 — 4 6 2
WSr 1 2 0 0 2 0 x — 5 9 0
WP: Bradley
Pitching
Wilder Sr. — Bradley 6.2IP 6H, 4ER 4K 4BB; Bradow 0.1IP, 0H.
Hitting
Wilder Sr. — Angevine 2-2, 2B, 3B, 2RBI, BB; Jackson 2-3, R; Milyard 1-2, R, BB; Guerrero 1-3, R; Woods 2-3, RBI.
Wilder Sr. 14, Roosters 8
Roosters 7 1 0 0 0 0 0 — 8 8 4
WSr 2 (10) 0 1 0 1 x — 14 12 0
WP: Shimko
Pitching
Wilder Sr. — Wilson 1IP, 5H, 7ER, K, BB; Shimko 6IP 3H, ER, 4K, BB.
Hitting
Wilder Sr. — Jackson 2-5, HR, 2R, RBI; Guerrero 3-3, 3R, RBI; Woods 2-3, R, 3RBI, SB; Bradley 2-3, 3B, R, 2RBI; Milyard 1-2, 2R, 2RBI, BB; Wood 1-2, 2RBI, 2RBI, 2BB.
