EVERETT — The Cascade Bruins like to give their fans a chance to sweat.
For the second time this week the Bruins erased a deficit to beat Mount Vernon in Cascade’s final at-bat. Saturday’s 5-4 victory in a loser-out district game at Everett Memorial Stadium earned Cascade the Wesco’s second and final berth to the Class 4A state tournament.
Andrew Scheuffele scored the winning run on a bases-loaded walk to Sam Cahill as the Bruins erased a 4-2 deficit with three runs in the seventh inning.
“No doubt,” said Scheuffele, whose two-run single tied the game earlier in the inning. “We’ve (come from behind) a couple times before and we were just trying to do it again.”
Last Monday Cascade erased a 5-1 hole to these same Bulldogs before going on to win 6-5 in eight innings. The Bruins (15-8) return to the state tournament for the first time since reaching the quarterfinals in 2014.
Mount Vernon (14-10) was in search of its first state tournament trip since 2012 and just its second since 2003.
“That’s a really heartbreaking way for them to lose and I feel for those guys,” Cascade head coach Scott Stencil said. “Obviously we’re really excited we wound up winning that game. Sometimes baseball is a crazy game. My heart goes out to (Mount Vernon).”
Trailing 4-2 and down to their final three outs, the first five Bruins reached base in the bottom of the seventh. Jake Kirschner followed Scheuffele’s game-tying single with his own bunt single to load the bases. One out later Cahill walked to force in the winning run.
“We were just struggling to get base hits and then in the last inning there it just started going for us,” Scheuffele said.
Mount Vernon freshman starter Reilly Olmsted was the big reason why. Olmsted walked in two runs in the first inning before settling down and allowing just three hits in the next five-plus innings while working into the seventh.
Olmsted was lifted after hitting Brennen Hancock to open the seventh. It was the Bulldog freshman’s second start against Cascade this week.
“We tried to have the same approach against (Olmsted) as we did on Monday,” Stencil said. “I thought we struggled, especially after the first inning when we had a chance to get a bunch of runs and didn’t get that done. And after that he really buckled down and shut us down.”
Mount Vernon took the lead in the top of the fifth. Ian Fitzgerald singled with one out and went to third when the Cascade first baseman threw Carson Lindell’s ground ball into center field. Fitzgerald came home on Zach Dougliss’ RBI groundout and Lindell scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch and the Bulldogs led 3-2.
The Bulldogs made it 4-2 when Lindell walked and later scored on an RBI fielder’s choice by Dylan Cyr in the top of the seventh to set up Cascade’s game-winning rally.
The Bruins took the early lead in the top of the first when a walk, a hit, a hit batter and back-to-back bases-loaded walks yielded two Cascade runs before Olmsted struck out the next two hitters to avert further damage.
Mount Vernon threatened in every inning before finally scratching out a run in the top of the fourth. With two outs Cyr singled and advanced to second when the Cascade left fielder overran the ball. After Travis Oord was hit by a pitch, Bryce Fredrickson followed with a ground ball up the middle to score Cyr and cut the deficit to 2-1.
At Everett Memorial Stadium
WP: Nik Soros. LP: Allen Beath. Individual highlights: Mount Vernon—Carsen Goodman (3-3, 2B), Dylan Cyr (1-4, R, RBI), Bryce Fredrickson (2-2). Cascade—Brennen Hancock (1-3, 2 R), Andrew Scheuffele (1-2, 3 RBI), Jake Kirschner (2-4). Records—Mount Vernon 14-10 overall. Cascade 15-8.
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