A historic day for Wildcat baseball, 5-21-11
It was a historic day for Mount Si’s baseball team yesterday as they won their first ever state tournament games and made their first ever trip to the state semifinals with wins over two top-10 powers from the South Sound at Bannerwood Park in Bellevue.
It all started with a come-from-behind win over the Timberline Blazers. Down 2-0 in the third, the Wildcats used another big inning to get the lead, then junior ace pitcher Trevor Lane took over and shut down the Blazers bats as Mount Si held on for a 4-2 win.
Lane battled nerves early, as he had several three-ball counts to hitters in the first two innings. Timberline, from Lacey, took advantage, and broke out to a 2-0 lead in the second inning, and behind their ace, Charlie Hinson, it looked as if the Blazers were in business. But Mount Si’s third baseman had other ideas. With a man on in the bottom of the third, Ryan Atkinson took a Hinson pitch and sent it out of the yard for a game-tying two run homer. Lane helped his own cause later in the frame with a double which scored both his brother Robb and teammate Tim Proudfoot to give the Wildcats the lead. After that, Lane got comfortable, and things got much better for both him and his team, as Mount Si used strong defense to close things out.
Lane finished having given up four hits and two walks in a complete game performance, striking out 10.
That sent the Wildcats to the regional title game against the SPSL’s Enumclaw Hornets, whose offense had come in with a little buzz: they had made the title game with a 19-2 blowout of the Meadowdale Mavs from Lynnwood. Mount Si’s Reece Karalus, though, gave the Hornet bats fits, shutting them down as well after a strong opening start. Enumclaw opened the first with a run on two hits, then was limited the rest of the way by the Wildcat junior to a run and two hits. Mount Si took full advantage, winning 6-2.
Max Brown went 3-3 and Dustin Breshears went 3-4 to lead the Wildcats, who scored two runs in each of the first, third and sixth innings to get it done.
After going down 1-0 in the first, the Wildcats used their speed to tie the game, stealing home as part of a double steal. Breshears was the young man who stole home and got things tied 1-1. A Brown single with two outs then scored Robb Lane and it gave Mount Si the lead.
The two in the third came courtesy of a sac fly by Proudfoot which scored Atkinson, then Trevor Lane got his own two-out clutch hit, singling to score Breshears. The two runs in the sixth both came with two out, and were the result of an error on Enumclaw’s second baseman on a ball hit by Atkinson. Nate Sinner and Justin Henak both scored on the play.
Karalus worked his way through the seventh, and got Enumclaw catcher D.J. Hitch to pop up to Proudfoot at short to lock the door on a trip to Tacoma. Next Friday at 1:00, the Wildcats take on Kennewick’s Kamiakin, who won the Richland regional, beating local rivals Southridge and Hanford. Regardless of outcome, they will play again next Saturday.
