PORT ANGELES — The youthful Wilder Baseball Club starts its quest for its second consecutive state title and 10th championship in 31 years Wednesday in Kent.
Wilder, with a roster full mostly of 16-year-olds, opens the 2009 Northwest Babe Ruth 16-18 state tournament at 1 p.m. Wednesday against Northwest Crush of Redmond.
The double-elimination tourney features 12 teams, and all are gunning for the top three places to advance to the Senior Babe Ruth regional championships.
The regional champion earns a World Series berth. All postseason tournaments will be held in Washington this year.
For the first time in a while, the state tourney will have 12 teams, thus requiring a double-elimination bracket instead of pool play.
10 teams in pool play
Last year there were 10 teams that had pool play before entering single-elimination action, with the top teams in one pool playing the bottom clubs in the other pool.
“You have to be ready to play from the start,” Wilder coach Rob Merritt said about double-elimination. “If you’re not careful, you can go two-and-out.
“You go with your guys and you hope you get wins.”
Wilder (21-13) has a prestigious state history, winning nine titles in 31 years, the most recent a co-championship last season with the Red Buzz of Federal Way.
The North Olympic team went on to earn third at regionals.
Despite being one of the younger teams in the state, Merritt likes Wilder’s chances in the tournament.
“We have been holding our own against older teams all season,” he said.
Wilder, which has players from all over the North Olympic Peninsula, has been relying on outstanding pitching and defense all season.
“If we are going to win the title, we need solid pitching and defense,” Merritt said. “We also need to execute and do the little things to win.”
Winning tournament teams have players stepping up at the right time, Merritt said.
“There’s always a player or two stepping up that nobody is expecting that from,” he said.
Pitchers that Wilder has depended on all year include Danny Romero (6-2) of Port Angeles, Chase Moore (6-1) of Forks, A.J. Konopaski (2-1 with three saves) of Port Angeles, Cody Sullivan (2-1 with two saves) of Port Angeles, Alex Gillis of Sequim and Brandon Bancroft of Quilcene.
The pitching staff features the youthfulness of the team as Konopaski, Sullivan and Bancroft all are 16 years old.
“They will be with us two more years,” Merritt said.
Gillis is only 17 while Romero and Moore graduated from high school last month.
“Actually, we have nine 16 year olds on our team,” Merritt said.
On defense, Wilder is anchored down with Gillis in the outfield and Easton Napiontek of Port Angeles at shortstop. Napiontek is another 16 year old.
“Gillis does a good job in the outfield,” Merritt said. “He’s our captain out there.”
State games are scheduled at two Kent parks, Kent Memorial Park and Russell Road Park.
Wilder will be Olympic B on the programs. Kitsap of Bremerton is Olympic A.
The regionals are set for the University of Washington in Seattle while the World Series is scheduled for Moses Lake.
Wilder tuned up for state by ripping the South Kitsap/Central Kitsap All-Star team 16-1 in five innings Sunday.
Moore went the distance on the mound, winning his sixth game of the year while giving up no earned runs and three hits. He walked two and struck out five.
Sullivan went 2-for-2 with four runs scored and two RBIs while Romero was 2-for-4 with two runs and an RBI.
Napiontek went 3-for-4 with two RBIs and a run.
