PORT ANGELES — Demiree Briones threw a no-hitter and swung a four-hitter at the plate, leading Sequim to a 12-2 victory over Port Angeles at Dry Creek School.
The game had ramifications in the Olympic League standings because both teams entered the game in a three-way tie for first place with Kingston.
With the win, the Wolves grabbed a share of the league championship with the Buccaneers, both finishing the regular season with 14-2 records each.
“It’s huge; gives us the No. 1 or 2 seed in the sub-districts,” Sequim coach Mike McFarlen said of Wednesday’s win.
“And, it’s better than third place.”
The top seed in the sub-district tournament will be determined by coin flip.
The win over Port Angeles capped off a stretch of three consecutive days in which the Wolves played the best teams in the Olympic League on the road.
They beat fourth-place North Mason on Monday and lost to Kingston on Tuesday.
Briones said Sequim made a statement by rebounding to defeat the Roughriders on Wednesday.
“It showed that our losses were a fluke,” she said. “Just two bad days — two bad hitting days.”
Briones’ no-hitter was yet another strong pitching performance from the senior standout.
Her bat was equally devastating to the Riders.
Briones went 4 for 4 with two doubles, a triple and three RBIs in the game.
She nearly drove in a fourth run.
In the fifth inning, she blasted a hit down the third-base line that scored Bailey Rhodefer.
Rylleigh Zbaraschuk tried to score from second, but Port Angeles’ Raelyn Lucas’ perfect throw from deep left field beat Zbaraschuk to the plate.
It was the lone base-running blemish for Zbaraschuk, whose aggressive running made a big impact on the game.
It also wasn’t her closest play at the plate.
In the first inning, she got caught in a rundown between third base and home plate.
After running back-and-forth a few times, Zbaraschuk somehow got past the Roughriders’ fielders to score the second of Sequim’s four first-inning runs.
In the second inning, Amber Robb fouled out to the catcher with Zbaraschuk on third base.
Zbaraschuk noticed that nobody moved over to cover home plate, so she tagged up and scored easily to give the Wolves a 6-0 lead.
Even McFarlen, who was coaching third base, didn’t see the open plate.
“That was all her, I didn’t see it,” he said.
“She’s a smart baserunner. Me and Rylleigh have this thing [we say to each other]: speed kills.”
Zbaraschuk’s aggressiveness was inspired by Tuesday’s 6-2 loss at Kingston.
“I’m confident on the bases,” she said. “I knew this was an important game for us, and I didn’t want to leave runners on like yesterday.”
The Wolves built up an 11-0 lead heading into the bottom of the sixth, when Briones had her one bad inning of the game.
She walked two batters and two others reached base by error and fielder’s choice.
Lucas and Maddy Hinrichs both scored runs before Sequim recorded an out in the inning.
But Briones recovered to force three consecutive ground outs to end the inning.
After the Wolves added a run in the top of the seventh, Briones ended the game by retiring the side in the bottom part of the inning.
The Wolves also got a nice game from Robb, who drove in four runs and scored one.
Port Angeles coach Buddy Bear said playing against Sequim is always good for his team, and he didn’t expect this game to be different.
“We’ll get something out of this,” Bear said, adding that he’ll get input from his team on how they can improve.
One bright spot for the Riders was Sarah Steinman, who struck out five in three innings of relief, including Columbia Haupt and Zbaraschuk with the bases loaded in the sixth inning.
Port Angeles will open the sub-district tournament Saturday at noon against White River at the Kitsap County Fairgrounds in Bremerton.
With their third-place league finish, the Riders have earned a spot in the district tournament, so the sub-district games are for seeding only.
The winner of the Sequim-Kingston coin flip will play Interlake, and the coin-flip loser will face off with Franklin Pierce, times TBA.
Sequim 12, Port Angeles 2
Sequim 4 2 0 2 1 2 1 — 12 13 1
Port Angeles 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 — 2 0 3
WP- Briones; LP- Curtis
Pitching Statistics
Sequim: Briones 7 IP, 0 H, 2 R, 3 K, 4 BB.
Port Angeles: Curtis 4 IP, 8 R, 8 H, 1 K, 4 BB; Steinman 3 IP, 4 R, 3 ER, 5 H, 5 K, 4 BB.
Hitting Statistics
Sequim: Briones 4-4, 2 2B, 3B, 3 RBIs; Haupt 2-5, 2B, 2 R; Zbaraschuk 1-2, 3 R; Besand 2-4, 2B, RBI, R, SB; Robb 2-5, 4 RBIs, R, SB.
