PORT ANGELES — Ricky Crawford drove in the tying run and scored the winning run as Port Angeles maintained its position at the top of the Olympic League baseball standings with a 9-8 win over North Kitsap at Civic Field.
The Roughriders entered the bottom of the seventh trailing 8-7. Tanner Gochnour led off with a walk and then took second base on a passed ball.
Janson Pederson’s sacrifice moved Gochnour to third base with one out, and Crawford singled in Gochnour to tie the score at 8-8.
Curan Bradley then singled to right field, and Port Angeles coach Vic Reykdal waved Crawford around second to third base.
The throw from right field went over the third basmen’s head and Crawford, without hesitating, kept running and made it home safely to give the Riders the win.
“I was looking back, trying to see where the ball was,” Port Angeles coach Vic Reykdal said after Tuesday’s game.
“By the time I looked back, he was already going. He never stopped. He saw the ball go over the kids head and kept going.”
The Riders grabbed an early lead with four runs in the bottom of the second inning, but the Vikings (2-1, 6-2), ranked fourth in Class 2A in the latest Washington High School Baseball Poll, scored a run in the fourth and seven in the fifth to take an 8-4 lead.
Port Angeles, though, responded with three runs in their half of the inning to close the gap to 8-7.
“Everybody knows they’re always one of the top teams,” Reykdal said of North Kitsap.
“But my guys, they didn’t seem to flinch. When they got down 8-4, they came back swinging.”
Pederson started on the mound for the Riders and went four innings. Ryan Rodocker ran into trouble in the fifth and was replaced by Bradley with one out.
Bradley allowed one base runner but managed to get out of the inning before damage was done. He earned the win with four strikeouts and no hits in 2 2/3 innings.
“The hero of the game has got to be Curan Bradley,” Reykdal said.
“We bring him in, he walks the first guy he faces and loads the bases. Then he gets the next two guys.
“And he ended up having the winning hit in the seventh.”
Port Angeles (4-0, 5-2) remains undefeated in league play and tied for first with Olympic (4-0, 6-3).
The Riders travel to face the Trojans today to close out the first half of the league schedule.
Port Angeles 9, North Kitsap 8
North Kitsap 0 0 0 1 7 0 0 — 8 6 2
Port Angeles 0 4 0 0 3 0 2 — 9 10 2
WP- Bradley
Pitching Statistics
Port Angeles: Pederson 4 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 K, 5 BB; Rodocker, 1/3 IP, 5 R; Bradley 2 2/3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 4 K, 2 BB.
Hitting Statistics
Port Angeles: Crawford 2-4, R, 2 RBI; Bradley 3-4, R, RBI; Bohman 3-4; Ciaciuch 1-3, 2B, 2 RBI; Gochnour 1-2, 2 BB, 3 R.
Sequim 10, North Mason 4
BELFAIR — Daniel Harker homered as the Wolves pulled away in a major way with a four-run sixth inning.
Sequim (3-2, 6-3) won its second straight Olympic League game to remain near the top of the standings.
The Wolves already had two runs across in the sixth when Harker hit a two-run home run to right-center field that scored Evan Hurn.
Sequim led 5-2 entering the top of the sixth. Dusty Bates led off with a triple and scored on Tanner Rhodefer’s single. Rhodefer then scored on Hurn’s triple to make it 7-2.
The Wolves also plated three runs in the fourth inning.
Rhodefer earned the win with six innings on the mound. He stuck out six batters and allowed five hits.
He supported himself with two hits and two RBIs.
Hurn went 3 for 4 with a triple and two RBIs, Bates had two hits, scored two runs and drove in a run, and Gavin Velarde doubled, tripled, drove in a run and scored twice for the Wolves.
North Mason falls to 1-4 in league play (4-8 overall) with the loss.
Sequim hosts Port Townsend (0-5) today at 4 p.m.
Sequim 10, North Mason 4
Sequim 1 1 0 3 0 4 1 — 10 13 3
North Mason 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 — 4 5 2
WP- Rhodefer
Pitching Statistics
Sequim: Rhodefer 6 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 6 K; Christian IP, R, BB.
Hitting Statistics
Sequim: Harker 1-4, HR, 2 RBI; Velarde 2-4, 2B, 3B, 2 R, RBI, SB; Bates 2-5, 2 R, RBI; Hurn 3-4, 3B, R, 2 RBI; Rhodefer 2-5, R, 2 RBI; Grubb 1-4; Hilliard 1-4, R, SB; Hankinson 1-4, R; Christian 0-1, 3 BB, R, SB.
North Mason: Hohman 1-2, R, RBI; Weber 1-2, 2B; Burggraaf 0-1, 2 BB, RBI.
Olympic 9, Chimacum 3
CHIMACUM — The Cowboys cut out the errors but gave up too many walks in a loss to Class 2A Olympic.
“Today was our best game defensively, going the whole game without an error,” Chimacum coach Andy Lingle said of Tuesday’s game. “That was nice to see.
“Walks were the issue against Olympic, [with us] giving up 10 free passes.”
Trailing 5-0 heading into the bottom of the sixth, the Cowboys scored three runs and had another runner in scoring position before the inning ended.
The Trojans scored four more in the seventh to add to their lead.
“The boys always battle the whole game,” Lingle said. “That is a great attribute.”
Chimacum (1-1, 2-7) plays at Coupeville (1-0, 4-4) today in Olympic League 1A action.
Olympic 9, Chimacum 3
Olympic 0 0 3 2 0 0 4 — 9 7 2
Chimacum 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 — 3 3 0
Hitting Statistics
Chimacum: Hundley 2-3. R; Pape-Uphoff 1-3, R.
