MOSES LAKE — The North Olympic 10U Cal Ripken all-star baseball team from Port Angeles reached the semifinals of the state tournament undefeated.
North Olympic has been tearing up the competition, going 4-0 by beating each team by at least five runs.
Port Angeles went 2-0 in pool play on opening day with a bang on the Fourth of July, outscoring opponents 33-4.
North Olympic defeated Warden 15-0 and Wenatchee 18-4 in shortened mercy-rule games Thursday.
Then Port Angeles earned its pool’s top seed by beating powerful Lynden 6-1 on Friday.
North Olympic continued its winning ways in the state quarterfinals by blasting Ellensburg 10-0 in single-elimination bracket play in another mercy-rule game Saturday.
That put North Olympic in the Sunday semifinals against Bellingham. Results weren’t available by press time.
North Olympic 15, Warden 0
In game one against Warden, the Port Angeles squad pounded out 12 hits en route to the victory.
Adam Watkins and Wyatt Hall combined to pitch the shutout, each allowing just one hit while Watkins struck out two batters and Hall fanned four.
Leading North Olympic at the plate was Hall with three hits while Watkins, Seth Woods and Michael Soule with two hits apiece.
North Olympic 18, Wenatchee 4
In Thursday’s game two, North Olympic’s offense exploded with five runs in the first, 10 in the second and another three in the third inning on their way to an 18-4 crushing of Wenatchee.
Kamron Noard delivered three hits in the game and pitched two effective innings, striking out four and allowing only a single run.
Jacob Felton had a big game at the plate, hitting a single and a triple, and scoring four runs while Hall contributed two hits and scored three times.
Watkins, Soule and Chase Cobb also contributed hits in the team’s second win on the day.
North Olympic 6, Lynden 1
North Olympic continued to play superb baseball in their final pool play game on Friday.
The victory over Lynden earned Port Angeles (3-0) the top spot in its pool and a first-round bye in bracket play on Saturday.
Lynden had scored 44 runs in its first two games of the tournament but its offense was limited to four hits by the pitching of Hall and Noard in this contest.
Both pitchers tossed three innings and allowed no walks.
Noard faced only one batter over the minimum while Hall struck out eight of the nine hitters he retired.
North Olympic’s big offensive blow came early in the game when Tanner Price lined a clutch two-out, two-strike, two-run double to center field in the bottom half of the first inning after it looked like Lynden would escape with only a single run allowed.
Also delivering hits for North Olympic were Felton, Landon Seibel, Watkins, Cobb and Soule.
Quarterfinals
North Olympic 10, Ellensburg 0
North Olympic advanced to the state semifinals with the rout of Ellensburg on Saturday.
Port Angeles (4-0) continued its recent run of stellar pitching as Hall and Noard combined on a four-inning no-hitter while allowing only two base runners.
After being limited to one run over the first two innings, North Olympic’s offense blew the game open in the third by putting up eight runs and finished Ellensburg off with a single tally in the bottom of the fourth that put the 10-run mercy rule into effect.
Price remained hot at the plate with three hits, including a double, and he also scored two runs for Port Angeles.
Kamron Meadows helped sustain the third inning rally by placing a perfect bunt single down the line, and Eli Cyr maintained his improbable 1.000 on base percentage by drawing a key walk before Soule ended the game with an RBI single.
11U State
Cal Ripken
EASTMONT — The North Olympic 11U Cal Ripken all-stars went 2-1 in pool play at the state championships.
The Port Angeles team opened the tourney by pounding Spokane 22-0, then lost 14-11 to host Eastmont before beating Moses Lake 5-1.
North Olympic 22, Spokane 0
Milo Whitman, Lucas Jarnigan and Brady Nickerson combined for the shutout, giving up just two hits with two strikeouts.
Port Angeles had two double plays on defense.
On offense, Port Angeles had 24 hits.
Brody Merritt was 3 for 4 with a home run while Ethan Floodstrom was 4 for 4 with two triples/
Also hitting well were Derek Bowechop, who was 3 for 3, and Timmy Adams, who was 3 for 4 with a triple.
Eastmont 14,
North Olympic 11
Port Angeles pounded out 14 hits while giving up only five, but walked eight batters and hit six in the loss.
Tanner Lunt was 2 for 2 while Merritt and Floodstrom were 3 for 4 each from the plate.
North Olympic 5, Moses Lake 1
Bowechop, Gabe Richie and Jarnigan combined for a three-hit, one-run game on the mound.
Offensively, Nickerson was 2 for 3 with a double while Whitman was also 2 for 3 from the plate.
