Kamiak blasts Mariner
Published 9:26 pm Tuesday, March 29, 2011
EVERETT — In the early innings Kamiak’s offense was explosive, pushing across five runs in the first inning before making an out and a total of 12 runs through the first three innings.
Later on Mariner made things interesting, chipping away with runs in every inning but the fourth and puttin
g the potential tying run in the on-deck circle in the bottom of the seventh.
But Kamiak’s early onslaught turned out to be too much, and the Knights held on for a 13-9 Western Conference South baseball victory Tuesday on a frigid afternoon at Mariner High School.
“We started off good,” said Kamiak coach Steve Merkley. “But I give Mariner credit. They kept battling the whole time.”
In the early moments, the Knights made the game look like a potential rout. Kamiak opened with back-to-back singles, a two-RBI double, a hit batter, a run-scoring single, a two-RBI single and a walk before Mariner finally managed to get an out. The next batter followed with an RBI double, meaning the Knights had already batted around for six runs.
As first innings go, Merkley said, “that’s the way you draw it up.”
The Marauders got two runs back in the bottom of the inning and another in the second, but in the top of the third Kamiak scored another six runs. Two walks and two hit batters produced one run, and then senior Alex Schmidt cleared the bases with a double, his second of the day.
Next up was senior catcher Blake Collins, and he greeted new pitcher Jacob Parra with a long home run to left field.
Still, despite facing a 12-3 deficit, Mariner would not go quietly. The Marauders scored once in the third, twice in the fifth, once in the sixth and added two more in the seventh. Mariner had three extra-base hits in the last three innings, topped off by a booming home run to right field in the seventh by catcher Daylen Degamo.
“That was a bomb,” said Mariner coach Eric Cole.
Still, missed scoring chances hurt the Marauders’ comeback bid, good as their rally was.
“We left a small village out there on base,” Cole said. “But we were still in it until the last at bat.”
Yes, and in large part because of Tyler Coles, Jordan Garneau and Alex Coffman, the top three hitters in Mariner’s order. That threesome combined for six hits, two hit by pitches, one walk and six runs.
Garneau was particularly impressive, going 2-for-3 with a hit by pitch, two stolen bases, three runs and two defensive gems in center field. One was a long running catch near the warning track in straightaway center field, and the other was a belly flop grab of a soft fly in shallow center field.
“He had a really good day,” Cole said of Garneau. “And he’s a heck of a ballplayer. He’s coming off broken leg in football, so it’s really good to see him running around and being back to his old self.”
The win was Kamiak’s first in Wesco this season, following two losses last week against Jackson. But that good news was tempered by the possible loss of catcher and No. 4 hitter Blake Collins, who suffered a hip injury, believed to be a broken pelvis, while running out a ground ball in the fifth injury.
“It’s too early to tell (how long he’ll be out),” Merkley said, “but it’s probably for the foreseeable future. … (The loss) is huge. It’s not that our other bats are bad, but he’s our No. 4 hitter and he’s got some power.”
Other players, many of them with little varsity experience, will have to help fill the void, he added.
“We graduated 12 seniors last year, so even our old guys are young,” Merkley said. “But I think we’ll be OK. We’re a young team, and I think we’ll get better as the season goes on.”
At Mariner H.S.
Kamiak 606 001 0–13 11 6
Mariner 211 021 2– 9 9 2
Richards, Crosby (5) and Collins, McDonough (5). Coffman, Parra (3), Kohout (5) and Degamo. 2B–Schmidt (K) 2, Pettibone (K), Garneau (M), Coffman (M). HR–Collins (K), Degamo (M). Records–Kamiak 1-2 league, 5-2 overall. Mariner 0-1, 3-1.
