Thursday, May 1, 2014

Coming Down to the Wire

With just two more days of games, Friday and Monday of next week, the teams in 4A are fighting for playoff spots and seeding. Wednesday's action saw some lopsided results which is atypical of the season thus far. At this point, only three teams have clinched playoff spots: Skyline in the Crown and Bothell and Redmond in the Crest. The rest is up for grabs.

Skyline 8 @ Issaquah 1 - Issaquah opened up the scoring with one run in the first, but that was all they could muster off Spartan starter Drew Lunde. The big lefthander threw six innings of two hit ball. Skyline did most of its offensive damage in the early innings with three runs in the second and two in the third. The offensive leaders for Skyline were once again Cole Blackburn and Jason Santiago, each producing two hits. With the win, Skyline locked up a playoff spot and is in the driver's seat for the 1 seed in the Crown.

Newport 2 @ Roosevelt 0 - Newport starter Ryan Kingma went the distance only allowing one Roughrider hit on the day. Though Newport managed just five hits of their own, they were good enough to plate two runs. Junior Todd Reese drove in one of those runs while senior Paul Wells collected two of the hits for the Knights. Newport, with the win, still has a chance to unseat Skyline atop the division. They need a win on Friday against the Spartans to do that and another win on Monday coupled with another Skyline loss.

Garfield 8 @ Ballard 6 - The Bulldogs are doing a fine job of playing spoiler right now as they collected their second consecutive win over a Crown Division foe. Garfield found itself up 6-1 after a five spot in the 4th inning with Alex Chase doing much of the damage with a three run double. However, the Beavers came storming back to cut the lead to one. It wouldn't be enough as Garfield added two more in the 6th. For the Bulldogs, Patrick Lin, Duncan Skerrett, and Henry Freed had two hits. The loss keeps Ballard in a tie for the 4th playoff spot with Roosevelt. Both teams sit at 5-8, a game behind Issaquah.

Bothell 12 @ Inglemoor 0 - Quinn Gleed faced one batter over the minimum as Bothell rolled in a game shortened to five innings. Gleed, a sophomore right-hander, gave up an infield hit to the first batter he faced, erased that runner with a double play, walked the next batter and then retired the last 13 Ingelmoor hitters to come to the plate. He struck out four and needed only 59 pitches to complete five innings. Sam McPherson led Bothell at the plate with three hits and three RBI. Peyton Cordova-Smith and Shawn Munro each added two hits and two RBI, and Daniel Fredrickson had two hits, walked twice, and scored three runs. Bothell (9-4 in Kingco) will play Redmond (9-3) on Friday in a game that will decide the champion of the Crest Division.
 
Eastlake 4 @ Woodinville 9 - The two teams exchanged blows early as Woodinville scored one in the first and two in the second. Eastlake, for its part, put up three in its half of the second as senior Mick Vorhof cleared the bases with a double. Woodinville would have the next response as senior Drew Accimus celebrated his senior night with a three run bomb in the 4th. The fireworks would continue as Woodinville kept lighting up the scoreboard, the last time on a solo shot by Davis Bailie in the 6th. The game puts Woodinville in third in the Crest a game ahead of Eastlake. Eastlake currently holds the 4th and final playoff spot, sitting a game ahead of Inglemoor. Eastlake will host Inglemoor on Friday which will go a long way in determing who will find itself in the KingCo tournament.

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Brief Recap of Monday's Action

A bit short on time here, so I'll give a brief, short recap of KingCo 4A baseball from Monday.

Woodinville rode the left arm of junior Alex Worthington to knock off Crest Division leading Redmond, 2-1. Woodinville scored a run in each of the first two innings which ended up being enough.

Ballard pounded out 12 hits in slugging their way to a 9-2 win over Newport, which ties Ballard for the 4th and final playoff spot with three games to play.

Garfield claimed their first KingCo win of the season as they fought their way to a 6-2 win over Issaquah. The Bulldogs got a complete game effort from Owen Vickery on the mound.

Eastlake bouyed thier playoff hopes with a 3-2 win over Bothell. Senior Mick Vorhof earned the complete game win on the mound while also scoring the winning run in the 7th.

Skyline scored three runs in the first to overcome Roosevelt 3-1. Spartan Jake Kargl had two doubles on the day, driving in two of the three runs.

Below are the current standings with three games to play in the Crown Division. For the Crest, Redmond, Bothell, and Woodinville have two to play while Inglemoor and Eastlake have three. The top four from each division will make the KingCo Playoffs beginning May 10th at Woodinville High School.

Crest Division

TeamWLGB
Redmond93--
Bothell841
Eastlake652.5
Woodinville663
Inglemoor563.5

Crown Division

TeamWLGB
Skyline84--
Issaquah662
Newport662
Ballard573
Roosevelt5 73
Garfield111