TACOMA — If Jackson was going to get just one hit in the game, shortstop Conor Plaisance picked the right time to deliver.
With the bases loaded in the third inning, Plaisance lashed a three-run double into the left-field corner as part of a four-run inning. The offensive outburst, comb
ined with the savvy pitching of senior left-hander Nick Kiel, carried the Timberwolves to a 5-3 victory over Redmond on Friday in a Class 4A state baseball semifinal at Cheney Stadium.
Jackson, which improved its record to 24-2, will bid for its second Class 4A state championship in six seasons when it faces Bothell in a 7 p.m. game tonight, again at Cheney Stadium.
In the third inning, with the T-wolves leading 2-1, Plaisance was the first hitter to face Redmond relief pitcher T.J. Whidby. The bases were full, but there were two outs and Whidby’s first two pitches to Plaisance were strikes.
Looking for a fastball on the third pitch, Plaisance instead got a breaking ball that hung over the plate.
“I was protecting the plate pretty much … but he threw me a nice curveball,” Plaisance said. “I stayed back and ended up hitting it down the line.”
As the ball landed fair and rolled toward the wall, “I was definitely excited,” he added. “It felt good.”
Little did anyone realize it would be Jackson’s only hit of the game. But the T-wolves still had plenty of base runners, the result of 10 walks, a hit batter and an infield error.
In the pivotal third, Redmond starter Dylan Davis walked the bases loaded and then walked in a run to make the score 2-1. Mustangs coach Dan Pudwill changed pitchers and Plaisance followed with his bases-clearing double.
“From the No. 9 (hitter), that’s a pretty big hit,” Jackson coach Kirk Nicholson said. It will be, he added, “a day (Plaisance) is going to remember. But he’s going to have a lot better days in the next couple of years because he’s a good baseball player.”
Kiel, meanwhile, checked Redmond on just four hits and struck out six. Redmond scored an unearned run in the third inning, but over the next three innings Kiel shut the door, facing just 11 hitters — and one of those batters reached on an error — while fanning four.
In the seventh, working with a four-run cushion, Kiel yielded a long leadoff home run to Redmond’s Michael Conforto. An out later he gave up a walk, bringing Nicholson to the mound for a conference.
“When I went out and talked to him,” Nicholson said, “he told me, ‘I’m all right. This is the end of my high school career, so I’m fine.’”
Kiel got the second out of the inning on a sacrifice fly to left field and then a long fly to center field that teammate Sam Brown tracked down near the warning track for the game’s final out.
“I thought I actually pitched really well,” said Kiel, who improved his season record to 7-0. “Before (the game) I had the anxiety going a little bit, but once I got out there and found a groove, I settled down.”
Working with a 5-1 lead “relieved the stress off my shoulders a little bit,” he went on. “It’s always relieving being a pitcher when you have a nice cushion like that.”
In a game delayed 80 minutes by a passing rain squall, the T-wolves won despite just one hit and committing five errors. It was, Nicholson admitted, “not the prettiest game I’ve ever been a part of. And I’m glad we didn’t lose because, quite frankly, we would’ve gone home thinking, ‘That was our worst-played game (of the season).’
“We didn’t swing well and we didn’t field well,” he said, “but our kid threw a gem. And it’s amazing how that equals out.”
The victory, Jackson’s 15th in a row, gives the T-wolves a chance to repeat the state title they won in 2006.
Before the season, Nicholson told his staff “that we had the ability to make a pretty deep run this year,” he recalled. “So if you’re asking me if I’m surprised that we’re playing (for a state championship tonight), no, I’m not. Playing in (the title) game was our goal.”
At Cheney Stadium
Redmond 001 000 2—3 4 1
Jackson 104 000 0—5 1 5
Davis, Whidby (3), Conforto (6) and McBride. Kiel and Olson. WP—Kiel. LP—Davis. 2B—Plaisance (J). HR—Conforto (R). Records—Redmond is 20-8, Jackson is 24-2.
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