EVERETT — Even the Snohomish baseball players can’t believe the streak anymore.
The Panthers keep playing games and keep racking up wins. Snohomish’s 22nd consecutive victory clinched a district title for the Panthers, who defeated Lake Stevens 9-4 in the 4A District 1 championship game Thursday night at Everett Memorial Stadium.
Snohomish clinched a berth in the regional round of the state tournament with the victory. Lake Stevens will play Monroe in a winner-to-state game at 10 a.m. Saturday at Everett Memorial Stadium.
“I just can’t believe that. That just doesn’t happen in baseball,” said Snohomish senior Ben Dmochowsky. “But when you execute the way we do — we just look at it one game at a time — and we’ve just come up with a ‘W’ every single time. I can’t believe it. It feels incredible.”
Snohomish (22-0) took a four-run lead in the first inning and never looked back. The Panthers plated four runs on two hits and four hit batsmen, forcing Lake Stevens to change pitchers before the end of the opening inning.
The early lead helped calm the Snohomish players, who were a little excited during infield practice before the game.
“We were throwing the ball around the ballpark (during warm-ups),” Snohomish head coach Kim Hammons said. “… We were so nervous and so tight it was unbelievable.”
Snohomish scored three runs in the fourth and added two insurance runs in the sixth to clinch the victory and the Panthers’ first district championship in six years.
“We haven’t done it since 2009. It’s sweet,” Hammons said. “It’s always fun to compete against Lake Stevens. They’re a quality group (with) good coaches, good players. They are a very exciting team.”
In fact, for the Snohomish players, there was nobody else they’d rather face, with Dmochowsky looking at the Lake Stevens team and pointing out, “that’s our biggest rival.”
“It can’t be more fun than this: Lake Stevens-Snohomish in the district championship,” Dmochowsky said. “It’s something that I’ve wanted for years. I’m so happy just to get the opportunity.”
The Snohomish catcher said that even though others may assume there’s a lot of pressure on the Panthers, they just take each game — and victory — in stride.
“We’ve never looked at it as, ‘We’re defending 22-0,’” Dmochowsky said. “People look at you like all the pressure’s on us but we don’t see it that way. We see it as, ‘We have two equal teams going into a game, one of us is going to come out on top and if we execute it’s going to be us.’”
Dmochowsky had a two-run double in the game, Ryan Sandifer hit an RBI double and Mulholland added an RBI double for Snohomish, which had seven players get hits in the contest.
“Kyle Sandifer, Andrew Kane, Connor Thompson, all of these guys that no one even knew existed have just come in,” Dmochowsky said, “and they’re the reason we’re 22-0.”
“It’s been a new hero every game for us,” Hammons said. “That’s just the way the whole season has been.”
The nine runs were plenty for Mulholland, the Panthers’ pitcher. Mulholland struck out 10 batters — including all three in the second inning — and didn’t allow a hit until the third inning. The junior, who has verbally committed to Washington State, improved to 9-0 with the victory.
“He’s a stud. He competes. He’s a program-changer,” said Snohomish assistant coach Nick Hammons, who played with the Panthers before graduating in 2007. “He’s that type of player. … He’s just a phenomenal player and works hard every day. Kids rally around him.”
Dmochowsky, the Snohomish catcher who is good friends with Mulholland, ribbed the pitcher a little bit after the game.
“Today was probably one of his worst pitching days all year, honestly, and he got it done,” Dmochowsky said with a laugh, quickly adding: “It’s the only time you’ve ever given up four runs.”
Mulholland shrugged and said his team gives him confidence every time he goes out to the mound.
“I don’t consider it a great outing, by any means, but I know I can give up four runs because my team’s going to score,” Mulholland said. “And that’s what we did.”
Snohomish, ranked No. 1 in 4A by WashingtonBaseballPoll.com, looks to remain undefeated when the Panthers face the District 2 No. 2 team in a state regional game at 10 a.m. May 23 at Everett Memorial Stadium. The winner will play again later that afternoon for a trip to the 4A state semifinals.
Dmochowsky likes the Panthers’ chances.
“We’ve got that 1-2, Ryan Sandifer-Mulholland punch and we’re going to see what we can do with it,” Dmochowsky said.
The Lake Stevens offense put up three runs in the fifth inning with an RBI double by Justin Brown who scored on a single by Skyler Swords. Lake Stevens (14-9) added another run on a groundout by Tyler Billings to respond after Snohomish scored three runs in the inning before.
“I didn’t feel secure because I knew they were going to battle back,” Dmochowsky said. “We came and we added more. We didn’t settle, which is big.”
“They never stop,” added Mulholland. “They’re loud from the first inning to the seventh inning, whether they’re up by 10 or down by 10, they’re never going to stop. That’s something you’ve got to respect. They’re a great ballclub and they always work hard. They’re always tough.”
At Everett Memorial Stadium
Lake Stevens 001 030 0 — 4 7 2
Snohomish 400 302 x — 9 7 2
Sam Pyzer, Riley Crane (1), Quinlan Hayes (5), Max Gluck (6) and Andrew Bustard. Jake Mulholland and Ben Dmochowsky. WP—Mulholland (9-0). LP—Pyzer. 2B—Easton Funk (LS), Ryan Sandifer (S), Dmochowsky (S), Mulholland (S). Records—Lake Stevens 14-9 overall. Snohomish 22-0.
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