SNOHOMISH — Snohomish junior pitcher Jake Mulholland spent a lot of time in the offseason working on his game.
It appears all the hard work has paid off.
Mulholland gave up just three hits in six innings while earning the win on the mound in the Panthers’ 5-1 win over Glacier Peak in a non-league game Thursday.
“He’s come in here and he’s ready to go and he’s just lights out right now,” Snohomish head coach Kim Hammons said.
Mulholland located his pitches well and was overpowering. In his six innings, he struck out 14 Glacier Peak batters.
“I just felt comfortable and I felt ready,” Mulholland said. “All of the work in the offseason has just come down to this. I feel comfortable and I’m prepared. I know I have my offense that is going to score me runs, so I don’t have to worry about that and I’ve got a great defense behind me and I know we’re going to do everything right.”
The Grizzlies’ offense never really threatened Mulholland in the first five innings and the Panthers offense gave him a comfortable 5-0 lead. In the sixth inning he faced his only adversity of the night. After striking out the first Glacier Peak batter he gave up back-to-back singles — Glacier Peak’s second and third hits of the game. Mulholland followed that with an error that allowed another batter to reach base and load the bases and a walk which allowed a run to score.
Glacier Peak’s first run of the game brought Hammons out to the mound to talk to his pitcher.
The meeting worked.
Mulholland struck out the next two batters to get out of the inning with only minor damage.
“In the sixth inning I was very impressed with Jake because the bases were loaded and he was a little unsettled in that particular inning,” Hammons said. “I went out and talked to him and he gained some maturity and composure and then he battled and got a couple of strikeouts.”
Snohomish, on the other hand, was able to capitalize on its scoring opportunities.
The Panthers loaded the bases in the top of the fifth inning and cashed in for four runs.
“That’s the difference in this game,” Hammons said. “When we had the bases loaded, we knocked in some runs.”
Mulholland’s battery-mate, senior Ben Dmochowsky, provided most of the offense for the Panthers.
Dmochowsky scored the game’s first run when he led off the top of the fourth inning with a solo home run. He added a two-run single in the top of the fifth inning.
“Ben is just a very good hitter,” Hammons said. “He puts the ball in play and he’s got good power. He’s a very, very strong kid and he’s got a good swing. He will fight off pitches like he did with the bases loaded when he got that single. He’s just really a good hitter.”
After Andrew Kane popped out to lead off the sixth inning, Connor Thompson singled and Brad Morgan and Josh Johnston both walked, loading the bases for Dmochowsky. Ryan Sandifer followed Dmochowsky’s single with a two-run double to give the Panthers a 5-0 lead.
The Panthers recorded 11 hits, 10 more than they recorded in Wednesday’s 4-1 win over Mountlake Terrace.
“This team, our whole motto has been, ‘Do the little things,’” Dmochowsky said. “Yesterday, we played a really talented Mountlake Terrace team, but we outplayed them in every aspect of the game. We only had one hit and we put up four runs. What we talk about is, if we can put up four runs with only one hit, imagine what we can do with more than one hit.”
At Glacier Peak H.S.
Snohomish 000 140 0 — 5 11 3
Glacier Peak 000 001 0 — 1 4 2
Gabe Eatmon, Kajuki Kodama (5), Cole Walchenbach (6), David Meehan (7) and Sam Wyatt. Jake Mulholland, Connor Thompson (7) and Ben Dmochowsky. WP—Mullholland (1-0). LP—Eatmon (0-1). 2B—Ryan Sandifer (Sno), Connor Thompson (Sno), Colton Bunt (GP). HR—Ben Dmochowsky (Sno). Records—Snohomish 2-0 overall. Glacier Peak 0-1.
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