EVERETT
Edmonds-Woodway has relied on certain players at the top of its lineup to carry the team’s offense at various times this season.
But in the most important game of the season to date, the entire lineup contributed as the Warriors pounded Stanwood 12-6 in a winner-to-state/loser-out District 1 baseball tournament game May 12 at Everett Memorial Stadium.
In its last two games, the Warriors have scored 21 runs on 29 hits. Edmonds-Woodway defeated Kamiak 9-3 on May 10 in a loser-out game to advance to Saturday’s elimination contest.
“The middle and bottom part of our lineup really came through today,” first-year Edmonds-Woodway head coach Matt Barker said. “We’ve had a few guys at the top of the lineup that have really hit well all year and have just out-of this-world numbers. But today it was one through nine. There wasn’t a hole in our lineup at all today.”
Edmonds-Woodway’s team batting average is .346 and seven of its nine starters are hitting over .300. The Warriors scored in every inning against Stanwood.
The goal against Spartan ace Trevor Stahl was to simply put the ball in play, said senior Owen Jones (.459), who was 2-for-3 with four RBI. Stahl pitched five innings to help lead Stanwood to a first-round 6-4 win over defending 4A champion Jackson on May 5.
“You can’t have anything if you don’t put (the ball) in play,” said Jones, who was 3-for-4 with two doubles in the victory over Kamiak. “You try to hit the ball as hard as you could and make things happen.”
Edmonds-Woodway advanced to the 4A state regional playoffs for the first time in three years. The Warriors are scheduled to face Prairie at 1 p.m. Saturday, May 19, at Heidelberg Park in Tacoma. If Edmonds-Woodway wins, it then would play again at 4 p.m. for the right to move on to the semifinals, which will be Friday, May 25, at Safeco Field.
The key for the Warriors in the postseason is to keep hitting the ball like they are, Jones said. “(Twenty-nine) hits in two games is going to win you a lot of games.”
Barker, a 1994 graduate of Edmonds-Woodway, noted that the Warriors traditionally have had a strong offense.
“What Edmonds-Woodway always does is we usually hit,” Barker said. “So we just work on being patient, working the count a little bit, not swinging at bad pitches and just trying not to get ourselves out. We did that pretty well today and we got into their pen a little bit.
“That’s always the game plan — to get their starter out of the game.”
Edmonds-Woodway starter Kramer Scott gave up two runs in the bottom of the first but then settled down and blanked Stanwood for the next four innings, while the Warriors’ offense scored 10 runs.
“It was like one of the best outings I’ve ever had,” said Scott, who is currently hitting .514. “Everything was working.”
Trailing 2-0, Edmonds-Woodway immediately responded with two runs in the bottom of the first.
Junior Kyle Long bunted for a base hit and then moved to third when Scott took advantage of an error by the second baseman to end up on second.
Senior Tyler Weber then singled to left field to drive in both Long and Scott.
In the second, Jones hit a sacrifice fly to score senior Drew Lockhart. Senior Zach Houvener followed with a single to right field to drive in senior Scott Sheldon as the Warriors took a 4-2 lead.
Sheldon had another RBI single and Jones drove in a pair of runs with a single to left field in the third. An inning later, junior Tyler Cox had a RBI single and in the fifth, Houvener drove in a run with a ground out and Scott had a RBI single.
Stanwood rallied to score four runs in the top of the sixth to cut the deficit to 10-6, but Edmonds-Woodway extended its lead with two runs in the bottom of the inning. Sheldon scored on a wild pitch and Lange drove in another run with a fly ball to left field.
Scott was lifted in the sixth for Lockhart, who got the final out of the inning and pitched a scoreless seventh.
“He (Scott) did a great job,” Barker said. “He throws a lot of strikes. The thing he did well today was change speeds. We knew that Stanwood hit the fastball pretty well. … We just tried to keep them off-balance with the breaking ball.”
Jones, who is hitting .459, is the only player on this year’s squad to have been a member of the 2004 team that advanced to the state regionals tournament.
“I think we’re going to be pumped,” Scott said of regionals. “I’m really excited about it. Everyone is excited. We’ve been talking about it all week. Two more games to Safeco.”
The baseball team’s success at districts completes a trifecta for Edmonds-Woodway. The football and basketball teams also both advanced to their respective state tournaments.
“It’s really pretty awesome how we’ve taken three teams to state,” Jones said.
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