The Blanchet Bears topped the Hawks 4-2 in the first round of the WIAA State 3A baseball tournament Tuesday before a sparse crowd at White Center’s Mel Olson Stadium in Steve Cox Memorial Park.
The Hawks took an early 2-0 lead in the top of the 3rd inning on a rough series of pitches from the Bears’ senior right-hander Isaac Yeager, who walked in two runs with the bases loaded. The Hawks have had great at-bats in the post-season and looked to have the Bears’ ace rattled.
However, following a lead-off pop-up by Braeden Swan, Yeager walked senior first baseman Cody Snow on four straight pitches, then sophomore catcher Griffin Potter singled to center. Junior center fielder Rominic Quiban followed up with a single to right field, then Yeager walked junior second baseman Riley Norton to score Snow. Senior right fielder Dominic Kim battled back from an 0-2 count to even it at 2-2 when Yeager hit him with an inside fastball scoring Potter. With just one out the Hawks looked to add on, but Kim was picked off on a controversial call at first base. Sophomore shortstop Talan Zenk then flied out to left field ending the threat.
The Bears responded in the bottom half of the inning when Yeager helped his own cause by driving in Blanchet’s first run. Senior right hander Adison Mattix, who is heading to the University of Hawai’i at Manoa to pitch for the Rainbow Warriors next season, shut down the threat. The Hawks were still up 2-1 heading into the 4th inning.
With two outs in the bottom of the 4th, however, a bloop into right field was just beyond Kim’s glove and that scored a run and putting runners on second and third. Then another run scored on an error before Mattix shut down the inning with a strikeout. Going into the 5th, the Bears led 3-2 and added an insurance run later in the game for the final score of 4-2.
It’s not how you start…
The Hawks knew going into the season that they had the talent and skill to compete in a very tough WesCo league and District One should they make the playoffs. But, this is also an incredibly young team that graduates just three seniors – Mattix, Snow and Kim. So, it wasn’t too surprising that the club struggled a bit in five 1-run losses early in the season.
However, when the Hawks were sitting in last place with a 2-9 record well into the second half of the season on April 15, the post-season looked like pure wishful thinking. They just needed a win. But that day they were set to host Edmonds Woodway, who had just thumped the Hawks 8-0 two days prior. Adison Mattix took the mound against the Warriors and pitched the Hawks to a brilliant 2-0 shutout of the Warriors – a team that averaged more than 5 runs a game this season and remains alive in the state playoffs.
…it’s how you finish
And that victory over Edmonds Woodway lit a spark in the club that turned a 2-9 start into a 7-1 run that earned the Hawks a trip to the District One playoffs as the No. 10 seed. First up, they had to get past the No. 7 seeded Arlington Eagles in the loser-out round on May 6. The Hawks were the better birds winning 8-4 – the only double-digit seeded team to advance in the playoffs.
The win over Arlington meant the Hawks were now in the double-elimination round, but that wasn’t what they were thinking about when they headed to Bellingham to take on the No. 2 seeded Oak Harbor Wildcats. When the Hawks exploded in the first inning on a Talan Zenk grand slam, Terrace never looked back and Cody Snow cruised on the mound in what was a 10-3 thumping on the road on May 7.
Knowing they just needed one more victory to advance to the state tournament, the Hawks and the other three Edmonds School District teams found themselves alone in the semi-final round of the District tourney – perhaps the first time that has ever happened. The Hawks drew Edmonds Woodway while Meadowdale and Lynnwood would face off in the other side of the bracket.
Although Terrace was riding high, they just didn’t have any fun at Funko Field as the Warriors snared the Hawks 11-1 in 5 innings ending the winning streak that began on April 19 – nearly a month earlier.
Next up was the Mount Vernon Bulldogs who were seeded No. 5 and had one of the best regular season records of any team remaining in the tournament. In a fitting piece of ironic payback, the Hawks did to the Bulldogs what the Warriors had done to them, stifling Mount Vernon 11-1 in 5 innings.
