TACOMA — The Edmonds-Woodway baseball team didn’t get an easy draw to start the 3A state tournament, squaring off with powerhouse Mercer Island on Saturday at Foss High School in a rematch of last year’s state tourney third-place game.
The Islanders beat the Warriors last year, which gave Edmonds-Woodway a little motivation to send Mercer Island home early.
“We were excited to play against them,” Warriors coach Dan Somoza said. “It was an outstanding game.”
Jalil Marinez came through in the clutch with a bases-clearing two-out double in the top of the ninth inning, Julian Kodama threw two scoreless innings of relief to pick up the victory and the Warriors escaped a bases-loaded two-out jam in the bottom of the ninth to hold on to a 6-3 win over Mercer Island.
The Warriors then beat Capital 11-6 in a quarterfinal contest to clinch a berth to the state semifinals for the second straight season.
“I’ve always believed that this team was able to get to the final four,” Somoza said. “And they proved me right.”
Against Mercer Island (21-2), Marinez gave Edmonds-Woodway (16-9) a 3-2 lead in the top of the sixth with a run-scoring double, but the Islanders tied the game at 3-3 in the bottom of the seventh to force extra innings.
Warriors pitcher Ian Michael gave up three runs over seven innings.
Against Capital (17-8), the Edmonds-Woodway bats came alive early. In the first inning, Marinez continued his hot hitting with a one-out double, Kodama reached on an infield single, a pair of walks scored a run, then Michael unleashed a three-run double to put the Warriors up 5-0. Thomas Blahous added a run-scoring single and Tommy Oda stole home to cap a seven-run first inning for Edmonds-Woodway.
Down 9-2 in the top of the fourth, the Cougars rallied for four runs to cut the Edmonds-Woodway lead to 9-6. Logan Kruse came in to pitch with two outs in the inning and shut the door with 31⁄3 scoreless innings of relief.
Mountlake Terrace 5, Port Angeles 2; Mountlake Terrace 3, Highline 0
After a pair of stellar outings from its starting pitchers, Mountlake Terrace is heading to the state tournament semifinal round for the first time in school history.
Tanner Boe picked up the victory in the Hawks’ 2A state tournament first-round game, tossing five scoreless innings in a win over Port Angeles (18-5). Kendall Yackely then threw a complete-game shutout in Mountlake Terrace’s quarterfinal victory over Highline (17-7).
“Tanner and Kendall Yackely just had great days on the mound,” Hawks coach Andrew Watters said.
Mountlake Terrace (19-8) scored all five of its runs in its first game in the third inning, with Jonny Kumai, Max Coleman, Dan Bingaman and Tyson Kim driving in runs.
Kim drove in a run in the fourth inning of the second game, then scored from third on a double steal. A run-scoring single from Matthew Johnson in the seventh added an insurance run for the Hawks.
BOYS SOCCER
Columbia River 3, Archbishop Murphy 1
Archbishop Murphy’s quest for a fourth straight 2A state championship came to and end Saturday against unbeaten Columbia River in a state tournament quarterfinal contest at Kiggins Bowl in Vancouver.
Jackson Kleier’s goal with 19 minutes to play gave the Chieftains (21-0-0) a 2-1 lead, and Jake Connop’s goal in the final minutes put the game out of reach for the Wildcats (13-5-2).
Omar Rodas found the back of the net for Murphy’s only goal.
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