SNOHOMISH — Coming close to a state championship a year ago certainly whetted the Snohomish baseball team’s appetite for an even better finish this year.
And on Monday afternoon, the Panthers took their first step of the 2008 postseason by feasting on visiting Edmonds-Woodway 13-0 in a first-round pairing of the 4A District 1 tournament.
The game lasted just 4½ innings because of the 10-run rule.
Snohomish, the No. 1 district seed from the Wesco North, was retired in order in the first inning, but batted around in each of the next three innings. In those three innings the Panthers sent 28 hitters to the plate with 19 getting on base safely via 14 hits, two walks, two hit-by-pitches and one batter reaching on an infield error.
“I was really surprised the way this game went,” said Snohomish coach Kim Hammons. “I was not expecting a 13-0 game, not at all. I was expecting a nail-biter, so I’m a little bit shocked. We’ve been in a lot of playoff games and this has never happened.”
With the win, Snohomish advances to play Marysville-Pilchuck in a 4 p.m. game today at Everett Memorial Stadium. Edmonds-Woodway will play Jackson at 4 p.m. today in a loser-out game at Mountlake Terrace High School.
The Panthers, said Hammons, “are a group of kids that don’t hit for big-time power, but they can put the ball in play and make things happen.” Against Edmonds-Woodway, he added, “we got all kinds of clutch hits from a lot of different guys.”
Particularly effective were the fifth, sixth and seventh hitters in the Snohomish lineup — third baseman Braden Allen, catcher Tom Chandler, designated hitter Devin Ford, and Austin Reynolds, a fourth-inning pinch-hitter for Ford. Those hitters had nine plate appearances and reached base nine times, collecting seven singles, a walk and a hit-by-pitch. No one in that foursome was put out until Reynolds was retired on a fielder’s choice in the fourth.
The beneficiary of all this offense was starting pitcher Aaron West, who probably didn’t need to be at his best to get the win, but he was outstanding anyway. West yielded just three hits in his five innings of work while striking out five.
He is, Hammons said, “a quality pitcher.”
Most of the players on this year’s Snohomish squad were at Qwest Field last spring when the Panthers lost to Richland in the 4A state championship game. That near-miss became the team’s motivation for an even better showing this season.
“We want it bad this year,” West said. “At the start of the season, we were expecting to be back at state and playing for the championship. And winning (the title) this year.”
“This is basically the same team,” Ford agreed, “so everyone here knows that we can do it. We know that we have a good shot at getting back there.”
At Snohomish H.S.
E-W00000—031
Snohomish0544x—13142
Betts, Kane (3), Willcock (4) and Cox. West and Chandler. WP—West. LP—Betts. 2B—Foster (S), Jones (S). Records—E-W 10-9 overall. Snohomish 16-4.
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