EVERETT — The Warriors of Edmonds-Woodway had to wait for their moment to strike during Saturday’s 3A District 1 championship game against ninth-seeded Mountlake Terrace.
With the Hawks hanging on two a 1-0 lead through the fourth inning, No. 2 E-W knotted it 1-1 in the bottom of the fifth, finishing things off with a 2-1 walk-off win in the seventh. Both teams already qualified for state.
“It was us staying ready, and we kept competing,” Warriors assistant coach Chantz Justice said. “We didn’t feel like we were down and out, we felt like we can come back into this game at any moment. All we gotta do is play the same game we have all season, it was just a great effort from the boys to pull this one out.”
In his first start on the mound for the season, Terrace junior righty Robert Swan took his pitch count all the way up to 100, relinquishing one run before being relieved by senior Hunter Michaelson.
Junior Dylan Schlenger drew the start for the Warriors (19-5), going six innings and 93 pitches, helping shut out Terrace from the fourth onward before senior Drew Warner took over to record the final three outs.
With two down in the bottom of the seventh, junior Diego Escandon stepped up and drove in his freshman brother, Cruz Escandon, for a walk-off RBI single as the ball went through the legs of Michaelson on the mound.
“Very special moment,” Justice said. “That’s one of those memories they’ll cherish forever.”
Edmonds-Woodway’s Drew Warner smacks a single to the outfield against Mountlake Terrace in the Class 3A District 1 title game Saturday at Funko Field in Everett. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
The Hawks (15-10) had several opportunities to regain grip on their lead but fell short on the offensive end. After a leadoff double in the fifth from junior Talan Zenk, Terrace flew out three times. In the sixth, they helped a runner to third off a walk and a sacrifice bunt, however, the insurance run didn’t come.
“Even just looking at it, I felt like it was gonna be a two-out hit that was gonna win that game,” Terrace coach Ryan Sells said. “Defensively, we played our tails off and so did they. Swan came in on one of the biggest stages of career, and even Hunter did a great job for us. .. It just came down to one base hit.”
The decision to keep Swan rolling late into contest was a move Sells felt more than comfortable with.
“We were thinking about possibly taking him out in the fifth,” Sells said. “He was riding and he’s never been close to that pitch count before, its tough. But, he’s a competitor, he came out and said that he wanted the ball in the sixth. To be able to take a ball out of a guys hands when he’s talking like that, there really was no choice but to put him back out there, he just had that grit to him today and put us in a position to win.”
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