TACOMA — The Port Angeles baseball squad completed a successful 2A West Central District tournament with an 8-2 win over Olympic to finish fifth.
The Roughriders (15-7) won four out of five games at the tournament, winning two straight “loser out” games at one point to stay alive. Their lone loss was a 3-2 nailbiter to Fife in the second round. Fife finished third at the tournament.
The Roughriders gave up just seven runs in five West Central District games, winning a pair of one-run games.
The Riders begin play at the 2A State tournament at 1 p.m. Saturday at Joe Martin Stadium in Bellingham against Liberty. Liberty is just 10-12, but played in a combined 2A/3A league and was the champion of the District 1/2 Tournament.
Port Angels 8, Olympic 2
Against Olympic, the Riders saw solid pitching performances from Brody Merritt, Brady Shimko and Kyle Blankenship, who combined to give up just four hits. Merritt started and picked up the win after going three innings.
“[It was] just an overall great team win, lots of guys did a number of things well to help us win. We had a few great bunts, guys hit well with runners in scoring position, and we were able to be aggressive on the bases,” said coach Karl Myers.
Myers also said it was good to see Port Angeles’ offense return. While the Riders pitched great at District, they also got handcuffed by some good pitching, scoring just nine runs in their previous four district games (winning three out of those four games.).
“Great to see the bats come alive and really get us rolling again, just need to carry that through to next weekend,” Myers said.
Colton McGuffey went 2 for 2 with a double, two walks, a run and an RBI, while Joel Wood had two RBIs and a run scored with a hit and Ethan Flodstrom had a triple and two runs scored.
Noah McGoff had two hits, including a double, with a run scored an an RBI.
“This was a huge win, allowing us now to stay closer to home for the opening round of state on Saturday,” he said. If the Riders had lost, they would have had to open up the state tournament in Ephrata.
Port Angeles 2, Washington 1
Against Washington to stay alive in the district tournament earlier in the day, the Riders got a spectaculer performance from Dane Bradow in a pitchers’ duel against Washington’s Reis Carter. The two pitchers combined to give up just eight hits and only one extra-base hit.
Bradow pitched the entire game, giving up just four hits and one walk while striking out seven.
The Riders scored two unearned runs in the sixth inning to pull the game out. Ben Basden was 1-1 in the game with two walks and scored a run.
Port Angeles 8, Olympic 2
Olympic 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 — 2 4 5
PA 1 0 2 0 4 1 X — 8 7 5
WP: Merritt LP: Dean
Pitching
Olympic — Dean 4IP, 5H, 3ER, 5K, 5BB; Trottman 2IP, 2H, 2ER, 1K, 4BB.
PA — Merritt 3IP, 1H, 2ER, 5K, 3BB; Shimko 3IP, 2H; Blankenship 1IP.
Hitting
Olympic — Dean 1-3; Walters 1-3; Matheny 1-3; Burleigh 1-4.
PA — McGuffey: 2-2, R, RBI, 2B, 2 BB; Flodstrom: 1-2, 2R, 3B, BB; Wood: 1-2, R, 2RBI, BB; McGoff: 2-5, 2B, R, RBI.
Port Angeles 2, Washington 1
Wash 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 — 1 4 1
PA 0 0 0 0 0 2 X — 2 4 1
WP: Bradow LP: Carter
Pitching
Wash — Carter 6IP, 0ER, 4H, 7K, 3BB
PA — Bradow 7IP, 0ER, 4H, 7K, 1BB
Hitting
Wash — Parfit 2-3, 2B, R; Dickey 1-2; Sinor 1-3.
PA — Basden 1-1; R, 2BB; McGoff 1-2; Angevine 1-3; McGuffey 1-2.
1B Tri-District
Quilcene 13, Tacoma Baptist 3
Naselle 7, Quilcene 6
SEATTLE — The Quilcene Rangers won a clutch game Saturday afternoon, beating Tacoma Baptist in a do-or-die game at Tri-District to qualify for the state 1B Baseball Tournament.
Earlier in the day, Quilcene had lost to Naselle 7-6 in the semifinals. Only the top three schools out of Tri-District qualify for state, so the Rangers had to beat Tacoma Baptist to get in. Naselle went on to win the Tri-District Tournament, beating
The Rangers will begin play in the State 1B Tournament on Saturday. That game is set to be played at 1 p.m. at W.F. West High School in Chehalis and they will face Nasella again.
