EVERETT — It was as though the two-day delay between when the Class 3A District 1 championship game was scheduled and when it was contested allowed the nerves to germinate.
The Glacier Peak and Lynnwood baseball teams combined for five errors and eight runs in the first two innings. But from then on the game was scoreless until Geoff Rogers produced an eighth-inning RBI single up the middle through the drawn-in Lynnwood infield to give the Grizzlies the 5-4 victory and the district championship at Everett Memorial Stadium.
“I was just trying to put it in play for my team and get the win,” said Rogers, whose walk-off single with nobody out drove in Devin Kamihara with the game-winning run.
Glacier Peak (16-7) will play in a Class 3A first-round state tournament game at 1 p.m. next Saturday against Lakeside at Skagit Valley College in Mount Vernon. Lynnwood (15-8) takes on Central Kitsap at Rister Stadium in Kelso at 1 p.m.
The Grizzlies added a district title to the regular-season Wesco title they won this season. Glacier Peak has made the regional round three times in school’s relatively brief existence, but has yet to advance past the two-game weekend.
Thus the Grizzlies have loftier goals than simply qualifying for the state tournament.
“We’ve got a couple of check spots on our to-do list,” said head coach Bob Blair. “You’re down to the best 16 teams and that’s what I told them. You can’t show up half ready to go. You better be ready to go from the first pitch.”
Glacier Peak did not look ready at the start of Monday’s game. Two walks and a single loaded the bases with one out against Grizzlies starter Sam Wyatt. Lynnwood’s David Cooper drove in two with an RBI single. Another run came home on a wild pitch and Cooper scored on a sacrifice fly by Rome Boyer for the 4-0 advantage.
Of course, when all that happens in the first inning a team has seven innings remaining to make up the deficit.
“We knew Sam was going to settle down and we had Cole (Walchenbach) coming in (for relief), and we knew if we just picked away we’d be fine,” Blair said. “We’ve done that several times through the course of the season where we’ve gotten down early and battled back.”
The Grizzlies got all four back in the bottom of the second. Lynnwood committed three errors in the inning and Glacier Peak’s Ethan Smith delivered the big blow with a two-out, three-run triple that tied the score at 4-4.
“Every single game this year we always seem to be behind in the beginning and we just seem to clutch up,” Rogers said. “After we scored those four runs I think we all knew we were going to win the game.”
However, the Grizzlies took their time as the game settled into a rut of stranded runners and impressive pitching performances.
Lynnwood’s best chance came in the top of the fifth when the Royals loaded the bases with no outs. Boyer connected for a one-out sac fly to drive in Brice Foster. However, Glacier Peak appealed and the umpire ruled Foster had left early and called him out to keep the game tied at 4-4.
Glacier Peak had runners at the corners with no one out in the fourth, and loaded the bases with one out in the sixth, but came up empty both times.
Kamihara led off the bottom of the eighth with a triple to straight-away center field and set up Rogers’ game-winning hit.
Rogers finished 4-for-4 including his first career bunt single in the sixth.
“I’ve never bunted for a base hit in my life, but it was a good time to do it,” he said. “I was really trying to sacrifice myself to help the team, but it’s a win-win when I get on base.”
Walchenbach, a southpaw, earned the win with four innings of scoreless relief. He struck out four while allowing three hits and two walks.
Lynnwood starter Foster worked all seven-plus innings and scattered nine hits. He walked one and struck out four. Just two of the five runs he allowed were earned.
At Everett Memorial Stadium
WP: Cole Walchenbach. LP: Brice Foster. Individual Highlights: Glacier Peak—Ethan Smith (3B, 3 RBI), Devin Kamihara (2-3, 3B, run), Geoff Rogers (4-4, RBI). Lynnwood—Kyler McMahan (1-3, run), Brady Girgus (1-2, run), David Cooper (1-for-4, 2 RBI). Records—Lynnwood 15-8, Glacier Peak 16-7.
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