TACOMA — The Montesano Bulldogs’ run at a state championship ended abruptly with a 7-2 quarterfinal loss in the 1A State Tournament on Saturday at Franklin Pierce High School.
The day started well for the Bulldogs as they scored five runs in the eighth inning to down University Prep 5-0 in the opening round Saturday morning.
Bulldogs starter Nate Kloempken allowed a just one hit in picking up the win. The University of Puget Sound-bound senior struck out 14 University Prep batters and allowed a lone infield single in pitching eight innings.
Locked in a scoreless tie heading into extra frames, Monte’s Matt Plato drove in a run with a double to give the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead. After Montesano scratched across two more runs, Payson Parker belted a two-run home run to make it a 5-0 game and secure the victory for the Bulldogs.
Montesano (20-3 overall) wasn’t as fortunate in the afternoon’s semifinal round against Cedar Park Christian.
The Bulldogs grabbed the early lead at 2-0 on a run-scoring double from Plato and an RBI single from Evan Bates in the first inning.
After holding the Eagles scoreless through the first three innings, Monte ran into trouble in the fourth, surrendering the lead after allowing five runs in the frame.
“We got off to a good start, … then it was one of those classic ‘wheels fall off’ innings,” Montesano head coach Mike Osgood said of the disastrous top of the fourth. “It was one of of those letdown innings.”
Monte never recovered, failing to score the rest of the way and falling further behind at 7-2 after the Eagles scored a pair of insurance runs in the fifth.
Osgood reflected on what his current crop of players were able to accomplish after posting a 20-win season and a 24-0 league record over the past two campaigns.
“Overall, this was a really hard-working group that really loved playing baseball,” he said. “They’ve set the bar higher for the program.”
Montesano 000 000 05 — 5 7 1
University Prep 000 000 00 — 0 1 1
WP — Kloempken (8 IP, H, 14 K); LP — Webster (1.1 IP)
Leading Hitters: M — Parker (2R HR), Plato (2B, RBI)
Cedar Park Chr. 000 520 0 — 7 6 0
Montesano 200 000 0 — 2 6 3
WP — Reidy (4 BB, K); LP — Bates (4 IP)
Leading Hitters: M — Plato (2B, RBI), Bates (1B, RBI)
Ocosta out after first-round loss
CHEHALIS — In a game with little offense, six errors by the Ocosta defense proved costly as the Wildcats fell to Adna 4-0 in the first round of the 2B State Tournament on Saturday at WF West High School.
“We only gave up two hits, but we didn’t play clean,” Ocosta head coach Mike Allton said. “Our errors were costly.”
The teams combined for just five hits in the game, but Ocosta’s errors combined with the timeliness of Adna’s hits made the difference on the scoreboard, most notably Sawyer Burdick’s tw0-out, two-run double in the second inning to give the Pirates a 3-0 lead.
“We just couldn’t string any hits together,” said Allton, whose team left nine runners on base in the game. “We couldn’t get the timely hit when we needed it.”
Cole Hatton took the loss for the Wildcats, allowing two earned runs with four strikeouts and six walks in 5-1/3 innings.
Burdick pitched a complete game with seven strikeouts and four walks to earn the victory.
Allton reflected on a season that saw the Wildcats go 19-6 and win the 2B Pacific League with a 13-1 record.
“All in all, it was a great season and a fantastic run for this group,” he said. “We completed one of our goals in getting to state. The bar is set a little higher now for next year’s group.”
Ocosta 000 000 0 — 0 3 6
Adna 120 010 X — 4 2 2
WP — Burdick (7 IP, 3 H, 4 BB, 7 K); LP — C. Hatton (5.1 IP, 2 ER, 2 H, 6 BB, 4 K)
Leading Hitters: O — Martin (1-2, BB), H. Hatton (1-3), Beck (1-3); A — Burdick (2-4, 2B, 2 RBI)
Track & Field
Freeman sets meet-best marks at 2B Districts
CHEHALIS — Raymond’s Karlee Freeman broke meet records in both the shot put and discus at the 2B District 4 Championships on Friday in Chehalis.
Freeman won the shot put with a high mark of 46 feet even, a new meet record that was nearly 10 feet further than North Beach’s Natasha Fruh, who placed second at 37-10.00.
The Seagulls senior, who will throw for USC next season, took home the district title in her feature event — the discus — with a throw of 166-11, her second-highest mark this season. She also won the javelin with a throw of 125-02 and placed third in the 100-meter sprint with a time of 12.93.
In that race, North Beach’s Lorin Cox and South Bend’s Hannah Byington were seperated by a mere 0.03 of a second as Cox ran a season-best 12.77 to win the district title ahead of Byington’s personal-best 12.80.
Cox also won the 200 over Byington with a PR time of 26.68.
“That was a championship showing,” North Beach head coach Peter Fry said of Cox’s performance. “We are really proud of her for that.”
Other Twin Harbors area athletes to win district titles included Raymond’s Ricky Robinett in the boy shot put with a PR throw of 49-09; Jimmy Thepsoumphou of Raymond who won the high jump over teammate Marcus Anderson (both tied at 6-02 but Thepsoumphou took fewer attempts) and North Beach’s Tawni Blankenship, who won the girls pole vault with a PR clearance of 11-07, besting Willapa Valley athlete Brooke Friese’s second-place mark by more than two-and-a-half feet.
The top six finishers in the 2B District meet qualify for the state meet.
For full results, visit https://www.athletic.net/TrackAndField/MeetResults.aspx?Meet=318591&show=all.
Softball
Elma beats Forks to advance to state
CENTRALIA — The Elma Eagles softball team punched its ticket to the state tournament with a 7-2 win over Forks in the 1A District IV consolation bracket on Saturday at Borst Park.
Elma’s Destry Dineen and Chloe Velasco each hit home runs to put the game out of reach while pitcher Quin Mikel kept the Spartans’ bats quiet.
Elma head coach Roger Elliot said they previously had trouble with Forks’ starting pitcher Chloe Leverington and didn’t want to waste any time with a state playoff berth on the line.
“We faced her last time in Forks and she threw a lot of outside stuff, so we focused on just going with her pitch,” he said. “It took us about four innings to get going last time and this time we wanted to get right on her.”
Mikel relied on working the outside corners of the strike zone as well and she said she had success getting the Spartans to reach on those pitches.
“Fastballs outside on the corners were working for me. When I got ahead I made sure they were way out the strike zone and they swung at them.”
Elma (17-6 overall) will now wait to see who they will face in the first round of the 1A State Tournament, which begins on Friday in Ridgefield.
Forks 000 002 0 – 2 4 1
Elma 021 031 x – 7 5 0
WP — Mikel (7 K, BB); LP — Leverington (5 BB, 3K)
Leading Hitters: E – Dineen (2-3, HR, 3 R) Velasco (2-3, BB, HR); F – N. Lausche (HR); Olson (BB, HR)
Ocosta fourth seed in state tourney
CENTRALIA — The Ocosta Wildcats will be the No. 4 seed in the state tourney after a 18-8 loss to Adna on Saturday in the 2B District IV Tournament at Borst Park.
Ocosta (20-6 overall) will face Friday Harbor at 11 a.m. on Friday at the Gateway Sports Complex in Yakima.
Adna got things going early, stringing together three-straight hits and capping off the four-run first inning with a long ball from Skye Snow.
Adna added six more runs in the third inning and was leading 14-4 in the fourth.
The Wildcats put up three runs in the fifth to keep the game from ending via the mercy rule. Two of those runs were driven in with a home run by Kianna Battiste.
Despite coming up short, Ocosta head coach Jason Barnum said he likes the direction his team is headed and was pleased they kept the game close enough to play seven innings.
“To battle back and not get 10-run-ruled by them was a huge victory in itself,” he said. “I’m very proud of this team and I’m excited we’re going to Yakima. We’re going to make our Ocosta fans proud.”
Adna 406 400 0 – 14 11 0
Ocosta 002 230 1 – 8 14 1
WP — Poppe (5 K); LP — Fletcher (3 BB, 2 K)
Leading Hitter: A – Snow (2-4, HR), Pannette (2-4, 2 R); O – Basttiste (2R-HR), Marsh (3 R)
