PORT ANGELES — Youth baseball tournaments started this weekend and continue through next week for North Olympic Baseball and Softball teams.
The Port Angeles organization will have seven teams playing in postseason competition this year.
All softball teams are currently playing in state tournaments in Forks this weekend.
In addition, Port Angeles will be hosting the 14U baseball tournament starting Thursday, July 19, and ending July 22 with the two semifinal contests and then the state championship game.
All games will take place at Volunteer Field.
The first three days of the tourney will be pool play with host North Olympic in the American Division.
There will be two divisions with the Port Angeles team playing the final game each day at 5:30 p.m.
The top two teams in each division will play in a single-elimination championship round July 22 with the two semifinal winners meeting in the state title game at 4 p.m. at Volunteer Field.
Tournament ticket prices will be $5 daily for adults, $3 for senior citizens (60 and older), $1 for students (7 to 18) and free for youth 6 and younger.
The opening ceremony is set for the first day, July 19, at 5:15 p.m. soon after the third game of the day and right before North Olympic takes the field for the final game at Volunteer Field.
Following is the results of the first two days of the tourneys playing this weekend.
11U baseball splits
MOSES LAKE — The North Olympic 11U boys baseball tournament team kicked off pool play at the Washington State Cal Ripken tournament with a 12-4 win over the Moses Lake Nationals and 14-4 loss to a strong-hitting Bellingham team.
The first game was a true team effort with 13 hits by nine batters.
Colton McGuffey and Hayden Woods each had three RBIs, while Ryan Begley drove in two runs.
Johnnie Young led in hitting by going 3 for 4 with two doubles, a single and an RBI.
North Olympic also performed well on defense, with notable fielding performances by Joel Wood, Gavin Guerrero and Bo Bradow.
In the second game, North Olympic struggled to find the gaps but hit the ball well against the hard-throwing Bellingham pitchers.
Once again, Young led hitters, going 3 for 3 with a triple and an RBI.
Begley drove in two runs, and Woods contributed one.
Devin Batchelor and Hayden Gresli also had hits in the losing effort.
Bellingham put up eight runs in the first two innings against North Olympic’s starting pitcher, but Guerrero entered the game in relief and held them to one run until the fifth inning when Bellingham took advantage of some fielding miscues to add an additional six runs.
10U squad rolls
EAST WENATCHEE — The 10U Cal Ripken team opened pool play Thursday with two big wins.
North Olympic beat Othello 18-12 and Bellingham 18-5.
On Friday, the 10U Cal Ripken team won its third game, a 11-7 victory over Spokane.
They started bracket play Saturday as the numNo. 1 seed.
Softball tourney
FORKS — The North Olympic softball teams were in action Thursday and Friday at the state softball tournament.
Thursday’s most dramatic contest was the elimination game between the North Olympic 16U squad and Hoquiam.
After losing the first game to Hoquiam by a 3-0 score, North Olympic found themselves trailing 2-0 in the elimination game.
Port Angeles scored two runs to tie the game, but then gave up two runs in the top of the seventh inning to fall behind 4-2.
In the bottom of the seventh, though, North Olympic scored three runs to win 5-4 and force a winner-take-all game Saturday.
Meanwhile, the North Olympic 10U team played three games on Thursday.
The team lost 6-3 to a strong Forks team and 3-1 to Ellensburg before defeating Upper Kittitas 10-5.
The 12U team defeated Ellensburg 7-2 and Forks 15-0 to take the No. 1 seed into bracket play.
The 14U team defeated Forks 12-2 and took down Hoquiam 14-4 to secure the top spot in elimination play.
On Friday, the North Olympic 10U team began pool play with a 14-2 win over Bellingham and the 12U team defeated Othello 14-0.
In 14U play, North Olympic lost to Hoquiam 14-4 before defeating Forks 16-0.
The 16U North Olympic team began a best two-of-three series with Hoquiam on Saturday.
