Cascade jumped out to an early lead, but Shorewood – the Western Conference South Division’s first seed – battled back, scoring three runs in the bottom of the first inning and adding three more late runs for a 6-2 victory in the loser-out Class 4A District 1 baseball playoff game May 11 at Everett Memorial Stadium.
“That was a big win,” said Shorewood coach Wyatt Tonkin. “It let’s us play another day.”
Shorewood’s Bobby LeCount hit two home runs and Daniel Hammer batted 2-for-4 with two doubles.
Tonkin told LeCount after the game that his bat was like one of those lasers from Star Wars.
“Those balls got out of there in a hurry,” Tonkin said.
Thunderbirds starter Blake Snell shook off the two runs he surrendered in the first inning, holding Cascade scoreless until Kevin Moriarty shut the door to earn the save.
“We played good defense,” Tonkin said. “We got outstanding pitching from two sophomores.”
Shorewood plays another loser-out game at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Everett Memorial Stadium, facing the loser of tonight’s winner-to-state matchup between Marysville-Pilchuck and Monroe.
Tonkin wasn’t surprised that the Thunderbirds rebounded from Saturday’s loss to Snohomish. The team has bounced back after losses throughout the regular season.
“They’ve been pretty resilient,” Tonkin said.
The key to Monday’s comeback was LeCount’s first inning home run and then Snell coming back and pitching well the next inning.
“Bobby hits that first pitch. … That got us right back in the game,” Tonkin said. “Blake came out and shut them down. Those were two important momentum swings.”
By Alex Bosworth
For The Enterprise
SHORELINE
Last year, Brian Wolfe didn’t get an opportunity to pitch in the playoffs during Snohomish’s run to the 4A state baseball title due to an injury and a wealth of great pitching.
The Snohomish senior is clearly making up for lost time.
Regardless of what seed they are, the Snohomish Panthers are going to keep defending their state title until someone tells them they have to stop.
Wolfe didn’t surrender a run while striking out nine batters, Max Foster hit a two-run home run and Wesco North No. 4 seed Snohomish upset Wesco South No. 1 seed Shorewood 3-0 in the opening round of the 4A District 1 Baseball Tournament May 9 at Shorewood High School.
“Everything felt like it was working,” Wolfe said after pitching a complete game and improving to 6-1 on the season. “It’s easy with Sam Godfrey behind the plate (and our infield) … I don’t have to worry about anything but throwing strikes.”
With their defense running at close to full steam, Wolfe, Godfrey and the rest of the Snohomish squad turned two double plays and limited Shorewood to just three hits in the game.
Wolfe frustrated Shorewood the entire game, but most notably in the seventh.
Trailing 3-0, Shorewood senior J.K. Dykes led off with a double and Trevor Mitsui drew a walk to bring up the tying run with no outs.
Wolfe proceeded to strike out Cole Clerget, Thomas Vincent and Robbie Rusch in order to end the game.
“Brian Wolfe was phenomenal,” Snohomish head coach Kim Hammons said, “especially in the seventh … mentally he’s been through the wars of winning state and finishing second the year before … He just went out and dominated. He said ‘I’m going to get it.’”
Scoring opportunities were few and far between for Shorewood, which entered averaging 6.6 runs per game. The Thunderbirds stranded a runner on third to end the first inning, hit into an inning-ending double play with runners on first and second in the second inning and couldn’t advance runners past second in the seventh.
“We have men on base and all we get are strikeouts, strikeouts, strikeouts,” a visibly frustrated Shorewood head coach Wyatt Tonkin said after the game.
Dykes, who had a single and a double, was the lone bright spot on offense for Shorewood.
With Shorewood putting up zeros inning after inning, Snohomish got all the runs it would need in the third when Bubba Robbins led off with a double and Foster followed up by smacking a two-run home run.
Foster finished 2-for-4 with two RBI, Cameron Woolsey finished 2-for-3, and senior Austin Reynolds added an insurance RBI in the fourth inning.
Foster’s home run “really ignited us,” Snohomish head coach Kim Hammons said, “and it forced Shorewood’s hand … It’s tough to play from behind.”
Hammons was surprised with the extent to which his team limited a senior-heavy Shorewood team known to put up runs.
“Who would have thought we would have shut out Shorewood?” Hammons asked.
Alex Bosworth writes for The Herald in Everett.
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