BELLEVUE
In a loss that epitomized the Shorecrest baseball team’s up and down season, Eastside Catholic beat the Scots 9-5 in the state 3A regional playoffs May 19 at Bellevue’s Bannerwood Park.
The game included two ties and two lead changes, but in the end Eastside Catholic played the role of opportunist, cashing in when the Scots faltered.
With the bases loaded with one out and the game tied in the bottom of the fifth, the Crusaders ninth hitter Brad Burmester stepped to the plate. Burmester, who hit a RBI double in his previous trip, ripped an offering from Shorecrest’s Riley Reynolds into the right center field gap. Shorecrest center fielder Grady Small got on his horse and ran the ball down, but as he was about to make the catch it glanced off his glove. The Crusaders’ Kellen Matsuno, Matt Boyd and Taylor Parthemer circled the bases to make the score 8-5. They added one more when Reynolds issued a bases loaded walk to Spencer Payne.
“Plays today didn’t go our way,” senior co-captain Pierce Rankin said. “A lot of stupid mistakes, we shouldn’t be in that position to make. Guys knew better than that.”
“Obviously it wasn’t what we hoped for,” he said of the Scots’ first trip to state in the high school career of the seniors.
Shorecrest notched a couple hits in the sixth but the inning ended on a double play. In the seventh, the University of Washington-bound Rankin struck out looking in his final high school at-bat and Small grounded into a 5-4-3 double play in his last high school at-bat.
Shorecrest battered Eastside Catholic ace Brian Davis for 12 hits but the Scots also hit into three inning ending double plays and had runners picked off second twice.
“We hit the ball but we made too many mistakes to overcome,” Shorecrest coach Alan Bruns said.
Shorecrest squandered two early leads, but came back to tie the score at 5-5 in the top of the fifth. Chad Morrison led off with a double and scored on a wild pitch. Pierce Rankin singled and scored on Willie Davies’ single with no outs. Shorecrest had runners on second and third with still nobody out after Small’s double, but Small was tagged out after drifting off second on a grounder and the inning ended on a 4-6-3 double play.
Shorecrest took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first after Rankin singled and stole second and third, and later scored when Crusaders’ shortstop Cal Towey couldn’t handle a grounder by Reynolds. Stephan Orallo rapped a two-out single to score Small who had been hit by a pitch.
Eastside Catholic answered right back in the bottom of the inning on Ryan Stromberg’s two-run double. Shorecrest took back the lead, 3-2, on Bobby White’s RBI double that scored Orallo in the fourth.
Eastside Catholic seized the lead 5-3 in the fourth on Burmester’s RBI double and a two-run double by Towey.
The Scots lose eight seniors including Rankin, Small and Reynolds.
“The senior class is going to be tough to replace,” Bruns said.
Rankin (.390 average, 32 hits and 20 runs to lead the Scots) and Small (.320 average, three home runs) earned first-team all-Western Conference South Division recognition. Morrison, Reynolds and Anthony Jochim earned honorable mention recognition.
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