Late long balls lead Montesano to 11-1 victory

MONTESANO — Montesano got into Elma’s bullpen and blew the game open in the late innings to come away with the 11-1 win at Vessey Field in Montesano on Monday.

The Bulldogs (8-2 overall, 3-0 Evergreen 1A) picked up two runs in the first inning when a single up the middle by Payson Parker drove in Parker Plato and Evan Bates.

Montesano also got a solid start out of Ben Wills, who pitched a complete game and picked up six strikeouts while surrendering one earned run on 53 pitches.

Montesano pitcher Ben Willsdelivers a pitch in the fourth inning against Elma on Monday. Willis struck out six batters in six innings of work to earn the victory in the Bulldogs’ 11-1 win over the Eagles. (Hasani Grayson | Grays Harbor News Group)

Wills said the early run support helped him relax and focus on getting batters out.

“When you’re up its a lot easier to pitch knowing that even if you mess up a couple of pitches you’re still going to be up and be able to win the game,” he said.

Elma (3-6, 0-2) stayed in the game early on thanks in large part to the pitching of Brady Shriver. Shriver gave up two earned runs in four innings of work and exited the game in the fourth inning after throwing 90 pitches.

Elma’s next two pitchers out of the bullpen struggled to keep the game close as Monte tacked on four runs in each of the fifth and sixth innings.

Braden Dohrmann hit a two-run opposite field homer in the fifth inning followed by Teegan Zillyet, who pulled a solo homer to right field in the sixth.

Montesano head coach Mike Osgood said the Bulldogs’ aggressive play helped them pull away in the latter stages of the contest.

“We’re an aggressive team and we like to run the bases aggressively,” he said. “It hurt us tonight a little bit since we got some guys thrown out, but all in all the guys hung in there and hits came through toward the end.”

Montesano ended the game early when a four-run rally in the sixth was capped with a sacrifice fly from Trace Ridgway, allowing Cayleb Reninger to score Montesano’s 11th run.

Elma, on the other hand, struggled at the plate and scored its only one run when Brady Johnston scored on a fielder’s choice in the third inning.

Elma head coach Jim Hill said his team’s fielding was a bigger concern than the lack of runs on a day when the Eagles committed three errors.

“We’re going to go right back to practice tomorrow and play catch with one another. We’re going to try to pick up a ground ball and throw it to first,” he said. “That’s been our nemesis, errors were giving (Montesano) way too many outs, and when you give a team that hits well a lot of outs, they can score runs.”

Elma will be looking for its first league victory when the Eagles face Tenino at 4:30 p.m in a home game on Wednesday.

Montesano is also back in action on Wednesday with a game in Hoquiam at 5 p.m.

Osgood said that he will have a better idea of where his team is when the Bulldogs take on the second place team in the league.

“We have Hoquiam later in the week and that’s a huge measuring stick for us,” he said. “They’re a very good team and if we go out there and play well against them, it’ll show where we’re at. But, overall we’re executing and playing well for the most part, so things are good.”

Elma 001 000 – 1 2 3

Montesano 200 144 – 11 10 0

WP – Wills (6 IP, 2 H, ER, 6 K 0 BB); LP – Shriver (4 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 3 K, 6 BB)

Top Hitters: Montesano – Dohmann (2-4, HR, 3 RBI), Zillyett (HR), Parker (1-2, 2 RBI, BB); Elma – Shriver (RBI)