SHORELINE
Get the brooms out.
Shorewood earned a two-game sweep over Kamiak with an 8-3 victory at Shorewood High School April 13. The Thunderbirds beat the Knights 5-1 April 11 as well.
The Thunderbirds needed the sweep to stay in the hunt for one of four 4A District 1 playoff spots.
“It feels good,” Shorewood head coach Wyatt Tonkin said. “We’re starting to put it together a little bit.”
Shorewood fell behind 2-0 after Kamiak’s Rob Perrigo and Riley Henricks hit solo home runs off starter Rich Johnson.
A steady light rain began to fall in the top of the fourth inning but it didn’t bother the T-birds, who exploded for six runs in the bottom of the inning.
Designated hitter Cole Clerget led off with a solo home run to left field off Kamiak’s No. 2 starter Michael Malland. Malland hit cleanup hitter Andrew Giles and Alex Kuniyoshi followed with a walk. Geordan Medalia laid down a bunt that skipped past Kamiak’s charging second baseman Henricks. Malland tried to field it but mishandled the ball and Medalia reached first safely to load the bases.
Sophomore shortstop Bobby LeCount then ripped a single that scored Giles and Kuniyoshi. That gave Shorewood the lead for good and knocked out Malland.
Lead off man J.K. Dykes added an RBI single and Clerget belted a two-run double later in the inning to put the T-birds up 6-2.
“We had great at-bats there,” Tonkin said. “We were patient and let them come to us.”
“Our top of the lineup is doing a good job,” he said. “They’re patient and getting on base.”
Kamiak head coach Steve Merkely said his team knew the early home runs didn’t mean anything.
“They had that one big inning and we’ve had trouble coming back on people,” he said.
LeCount padded the lead in the fifth with a two-run home run to left field that scored Tyler Host, who hit a one-out double. LeCount, who hit an inside, knee-high fastball off the handle of his bat for the home run, went 3-for-3 on the afternoon.
LeCount, expected to be the T-birds top offensive weapon this year, hit seventh in the order. He said hitting in that spot takes some of the pressure off him.
“It makes me get better pitches, more fastballs, and makes me hit the ball better,” he said.
Kamiak added a run in the sixth. Brandon Ossinger, who pitched two innings and picked up the win, gave up a single and two walks before Tonkin brought in Clinton Lindgren. Lindgren walked in a run but retired the next three batters to get out of the jam.
“For a small guy he battles hard,” Tonkin said of Lindgren. “He’s got a little (former Yankees star) Ron Guidry in him.”
The T-birds have LeCount and Tysen Allumbaugh to anchor the rotation but after that it’s pitching by committee. Kuniyoshi has some lingering soreness in his arm and sophomore Jordan Kellington is out for the season with a torn rotator cuff.
Tonkin said he planned to use all his players and did.
“The thing I was most proud of was all 15 guys came prepared to play today,” he said.
Shorewood starts a two-game series with second-place Edmonds-Woodway at 4 p.m. today (Friday, April 20) at home. The T-birds then play two against first-place Jackson and conclude with a pair against third-place Meadowdale.
“I’ll be happy with a split with those teams,” Tonkin said.
Shorewood has won four out of five since a 4-3 loss to last-place Lynnwood April 3.
“Right now we’re looking pretty good,” LeCount said. “Hopefully we’ll finish up strong in the last games.”
The Lynnwood loss included the distraction of a scuffle between two T-birds.
The scuffle broke out after a Shorewood pitcher confronted the right fielder in the dugout over an error on a fly ball. The pitcher stuck the outfielder before the players were separated.
Tonkin was forced to make a pitching change and the Royals came back to win in the bottom of the seventh.
The players were suspended for the rest of the week, and missed two games. They are now back on the team.
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