Mountlake Terrace claims Class 3A district baseball title
Published 10:11 pm Saturday, May 11, 2024
Here are the opening state tournament baseball games involving local teams:
Class 3A
Opening round
No. 19 Stanwood vs. No. 14 Kentlake at Kent-Meridian H.S., Tuesday, 5 p.m.
Round of 16
No. 13 Silas/No. 20 Bishop Blanchet vs. No. 4 Mountlake Terrace at Edmonds-Woodway H.S., Saturday, 10 a.m.
No. 10 Ballard vs. No. 7 Edmonds-Woodway at Bannerwood Park (Bellevue), Saturday, 10 a.m.
EVERETT — Saturday’s high school baseball game between Mountlake Terrace and Edmonds-Woodway meant both nothing and everything.
On one hand, it meant nothing because both teams had already qualified for state.
On the other, the Class 3A District 1 title dangled in front of the rivals’ dugouts. Mountlake Terrace took home the district playoff dessert — a championship trophy — after a 9-3 victory at Funko Field that avenged a loss to the Warriors in last year’s district title game.
“State’s one thing, but I really wanted to bring home some hardware,” said senior shortstop Talan Zenk, who had two of the Hawks’ 10 hits.
Both teams qualified for the Class 3A state playoffs along with fellow District 1 teams Stanwood and Mount Vernon.
“We’ve had a rivalry with them for a really long time, and we’ve wanted to beat them all year,” said Mountlake Terrace sophomore Owen Meek, who pitched all seven innings. “We got it done.”
Meek dominated for six innings, but the Wesco 3A/2A regular season-champion Warriors didn’t back down. Trailing 9-0 in the bottom of the seventh, they delivered two of their four hits and plated all three runs. Mountlake Terrace (18-4) then committed their only two errors of the contest before Hawks coach Ryan Sells’ mound visit with one out in the inning. Meek had thrown 95 pitches, but no one had any thoughts about a change on the mound. Three pitches and two outs later, Terrace celebrated with a dog pile just in front of that mound.
“He’s a sophomore, but he really has the demeanor of a senior,” Sells said of Meek. “He’s been doing it for us all year. Every time he’s out there, we have 100% confidence that he’ll do the job.”
The Terrace bats had been relatively quiet in a pair of one-run postseason wins over Shorecrest and Arlington. Saturday, it all clicked. Each of the nine batters in the order reached base at least once, led by the two hits apiece of Zenk, Jack Gripentrog, Nolan Valdivia and Robert Swan. Ryan Sturgill contributed three RBI.
Luke Boland went 2-for-3 for the Warriors (18-5).
Pitching and defense dominated for both teams in the first two innings. Mountlake Terrace broke through in the top of the third when Gripentrog’s bases-loaded, soft line drive sent two runners home.
The Hawks used the Funko Field turf to break in open in the fourth. Three hard-hit ground balls and a bunt down the third base line led to three runs and a 5-0 lead. They piled on four more runs in the top of the seventh. The typically solid defense of the Warriors committed four errors on Saturday.
E-W coach Dan Somoza said the Warriors now must move past the district championship disappointment as both teams set their sights on an even bigger prize.
“Terrace is definitely a rival, and we respect them,” Somoza said. “We wanted to put a great game up, but it just didn’t happen.”
Stanwood 5, Arlington 2
Small ball helped Stanwood to a big win, as the sixth-seeded Spartans advanced to state despite just two hits.
Stanwood (14-9) found all the offense it needed in the bottom of the first with two walks, a bunt single, Luke Brennan’s RBI-bloop single and sacrifice flies by Skyler McLain and Ryan Cheeseman for a 3-1 lead.
Catcher Camden Knudson led No. 8 Arlington with two hits and a walk as the Eagles (13-11) saw their season come to an end.
Mount Vernon 6, Monroe 2
Xavier Neyens pitched three scoreless innings on the mound and went 3-for-3 at the plate as top-seeded Mount Vernon rebounded from an opening-round loss to Arlington to qualify for state.
The No. 3 Bearcats, who were led by Brennan Sheppard’s three hits, finished the season 17-6. Connor Campbell kept Monroe in contention by pitching two scoreless innings.
