Warriors stay atop Wesco South standings

  • By David Pan Weekly Herald sports editor
  • Tuesday, April 24, 2012 7:33pm

The general consensus of high school baseball experts was that offense was going to be down this year.

With teams using new non-wooden bats that have to meet a new performance standard that is closer to wood bats, runs weren’t supposed to be as plentiful.

Someone forgot to tell Edmonds-Woodway, at least in its last two games.

The Warriors pounded out 14 runs on 11 hits to beat district rival Mountlake Terrace 14-6 in a non-conference game April 23 at Mountlake Terrace High School. Edmonds-Woodway’s hitters also were on fire against Jackson, scoring nine runs on 16 hits in a 9-0 rout in a Western Conference 4A South Division game April 20 at Jackson High School.

“The last couple of games have been great for us offensively,” Edmonds-Woodway coach Dan Somoza said. “We want to keep that going into the playoffs.”

The Warriors have been getting production from everyone in the lineup.

“We’ve been using the whole entire field,” Somoza said. “We’ve been working the counts and getting good pitches to hit. We’ve got a lot of great hitters one through nine.”

Edmonds-Woodway (9-2 in the league, 12-3 overall) also has been getting some great performances from their pitchers.

Patrick Bernard allowed only three hits in the victory over the Timberwolves. Bernard, however, had to work hard in the early innings.

Bernard worked out of a bases-loaded jam and then had two men on base. He was a little wild in those innings.

“When things got tight, he bore down,” Somoza said. “He did a great job of competing.”

Bernard and fellow pitcher Ryan Budnick give the Warriors a solid one-two punch on the mound, Somoza added.

“I couldn’t be happier the way we’re pitching,” he said.

Edmonds-Woodway won its first seven league games but since then the Warriors have split two-game series with Kamiak and Cascade.

“People are going to give us their best shot,” Somoza said. “That’s the way we like it. There are a lot of good teams in our league. The competition is great. Everybody is getting better as the season goes on.”

The non-league contest with Mountlake Terrace came at a bit of an odd time but allowed Somoza to use some different pitchers and hitters.

Edmonds-Woodway was scheduled to face Jackson on April 24 with a pair of two-game series with Mariner and Kamiak to wrap up the regular season. The Warriors already have clinched a district playoff berth.

“We need to keep practicing hard and playing hard and don’t take anything for granted,” Somoza said. “You can either coast into the playoffs or come in hard. It’s hard to turn the energy back on. I want to keep that going.”

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