Jackson rallies to take 4A district title
Published 10:49 pm Friday, May 13, 2011
EVERETT — Shrugging off deficits of 4-0 after one inning and 5-2 through five innings, Jackson took the lead with a six-run sixth inning and then held off an Edmonds-Woodway rally in the seventh for an thrilling 8-7 victory on Thursday night in the Class 4A District 1 baseball championship game.
In the pivotal sixth, the Timberwolves had the first seven batters of the inning reach safely for five runs, and then scored a sixth run on the inning’s first out, a sacrifice fly.
“Hitting is contagious,” said Jackson senior catcher Kyle Olson, who had an RBI triple in the sixth. “Once one guy hits, then the next guy hits, and the rally’s just going.”
Though the Timberwolves trailed until the bottom of the sixth, “we knew we could come back,” Olson added. “We never give up on the game.”
Jackson’s Conor Plaisance knocked in the first two runs of the sixth with a fading line drive that eluded Warriors right fielder Troy Rheinford — he tried for a diving catch, but the ball just missed his glove — and rolled to the wall for a triple.
Olson followed with his triple off the wall in left, scoring Plaisance, and Isaac Kim stroked a double into the right field gap for the inning’s fourth run. After an intentional walk to Sam Brown, Joakim Soderqvist bounced an RBI single into left field and Anthony Flatt capped the scoring with a sacrifice fly to right.
“My kids deserve all the credit tonight,” said Timberwolves coach Kirk Nicholson. “I thought we struggled early on — we had some chances, but we hit balls right at people — but we kept going, we kept fighting.”
Thought they trailed by three runs in their last at-bat, the Warriors still had some fight left. With one out, Derek Callahan rapped a double to right field and Austin Jones bounced an RBI triple off the wall in right. Jones then scored on an infield out, cutting the margin to one run.
But Jackson relief pitcher Nick Kiel, a usual starter, got a strikeout for the game’s final out.
In the dugout in the seventh, Kiel had begged Nicholson for a chance to pitch, despite throwing 100 pitches in a Monday game. And freshman starter Jason Todd, who got cuffed for four first-inning runs, ended up going five innings and was pleading with Nicholson to throw one more.
“I’ll take that (kind of) heart any day, anyplace,” Nicholson said. “Those are wonderful stories of kids wanting to compete. Even if we’d lost, I would’ve appreciated that.”
Jackson had contributions from pretty much every player in the lineup. Soderqvist reached base in all four plate appearances with two singles and two walks, and Brown was 2-for-3 with two runs scored.
For the Warriors it was obviously “a very tough loss,” acknowledged coach Dan Somoza. “But I tip my hat to Jackson. They came out and hit the ball hard (in the sixth). They have one of the top offenses around.”
Leading the Edmonds-Woodway offense was Derek Callahan, who was 2-for-4 with a triple, double and two runs; and Austin Jones, who was 3-for-3 with a triple, double, RBI and two runs scored..
“If there’s any better (Nos.) 2 and 3 hitters anywhere in the state, I don’t know where they’re at,” Nicholson said of Callahan and Jones. “Because we can’t get those sons of guns out. They hammer the ball against us.”
Edmonds-Woodway’s record dropped to 16-7 this season, and five of those losses were against Jackson, including one where the T-wolves overcame a 9-3 Warriors lead.
“For some reason, they bring the best out of us,” Nicholson said. “They’re a great team. I don’t know why we keep beating them in tough games, but we do.”
“They have our number, I’m not going to lie,” said Edmonds-Woodway coach Dan Somoza with a wry smile. “And it’s a little frustrating, especially when I thought we had them. … But it was a fun game. That’s what high school baseball is about.”
Both teams had previously qualified for the state playoffs. Jackson will return to Everett Memorial for a 1 p.m. game next Saturday, while Edmonds-Woodway will travel to Kent Memorial Stadium the same day for a 10 a.m. game. The opponents for both teams will be known this weekend.
At Everett Memorial Stadium
Edmonds-Woodway 400 100 2–7 9 0
Jackson 002 006 x–8 12 0
Bernard, Jones (6), Mezich (6) and T. Budnick. Todd, Beasley (6), Kiel (7) and Olson; WP–Beasley. LP–Jones. S–Kiel. 2B–Bernard (EW), McLachlan (EW), Jones (EW), Callahan (EW), Flatt (J), Kim (J). 3B–Callahan (EW), Austin (EW), Plaisance (J), Olson (J).
