PORT ANGELES — Forks held off a late Westport rally to win the Olympic Junior Babe Ruth Championship 5-4 over Westport on Wednesday night at Volunteer Field.
“It was a good game by both teams, we had ups and downs, Forks got an early lead on us but we chipped away,” Westport coach Mike Politika said.
Alex Pursley and Karson Northcut each had two hits and scored two runs while Dylan Micheau and Landen Olson each drove in runs as Forks built a 5-1 lead after four innings.
Westport came inches away from tying the game up in the sixth.
Leadoff hitter Garrett Buerer doubled with one out, Hunter Stratford followed with a base hit and later while Stratford stole second, Buerer came home on an overthrow to third.
Kaleb Mullen walked and Rylan Politika blasted a triple off the wall in right field to score two runs.
“It was just a couple of feet from being a home run and that obviously changes the game,” Mike Politika said.
Northcut earned the win, going 5.1 innings and allowing three runs on four hits and a walk with seven strikeouts. Olson struck out four in his 1.2 innings of relief.
Westport put runners on base in the top of the seventh, but Olson and Forks closed it out.
The championship game matched the six-team league’s last-place regular season team (Forks) and fifth-place Westport. Forks advanced to the title game with wins over First Federal and second-place Swain’s, while Westport took out Athlete’s Choice and regular season champ Local 155 in the semifinals.
Forks 5, Westport 4
West 0 0 0 1 0 3 0 — 4 6 3
Forks 2 0 0 3 0 0 X— 5 8 2
WP: Northcut LP: Martin
Pitching
Westport — R. Politika 3 IP, 4H, 2ER, 3BB, 3K; B. Martin 3 IP, 4H, 3ER, 3BB, 7K.
Forks — Northcutt 5.1IP, 4H, 3ER BB, 7K; Olson 1.2 IP, 2H, 3R, 3K.
Hitting
Westport — Buerer 1-4, 2B, RBI; Politika 2-3, 3B, 2RBI; Seibel 2-3, Stratford 1-3, R.
Forks — Pursley 2-4, 2R; Northcut 2-3, 2R; Micheau 1-3, RBI; Olson 1-2, 2RBI, 2BB.
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Sports reporter/columnist Michael Carman can be contacted at mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.
