ANACORTES — Blaine may have got first blood against the Archbishop Murphy Wildcats in the 2A District 1 championship baseball game.
But the Wildcats got the last laugh.
Archbishop Murphy rebounded from a 2-0 deficit to defeat the Borderites 13-3 in five innings to win the district championship on May 15.
The Wildcats exploded for 13 runs in the second and third innings. The Wildcats, however, had a bit of help from their opponents. As big innings often do, the top of the second started with a walk, two in fact, by Blaine pitcher Nate Trueblood. Archbishop Murphy shortstop Jacob Oster advanced the runners to second and third with a well-placed sacrifice bunt.
Then there was more trouble for the Borderites.
A groundball hit by Matt Huggins that should have been the second out of the inning, was misplayed by Blaine shortstop Andrew Miller, allowing Archbishop Murphy’s Jake Hines to score. Steve Carratt hit an infield single to load the bases. Conner Huesers followed with a single to right centerfield to drive in two more runs. Jon Varriano then doubled to right field. Varriano took a large lead off of second base, causing Blaine catcher Dustin Dhanani to take a shot at picking him off at second base, but his throw sailed over the second baseman and into centerfield allowing Huesers to score.
After two more walks, Archbishop Murphy added another run on a groundball hit by Hines that was bobbled at third base by Tanner Weaver. In total, the Borderites walked four batters and committed three errors in the inning.
“In baseball they give you three outs. Once a team gives up more than the allotted three outs they are opening themselves up for a big inning,” Archbishop Murphy coach Stan Taloff said.
The Borderites added another run in the top of the third inning, cutting the Wildcats’ advantage to 5-3. But the bottom of the third inning proved to be an even more potent version of the second for Archbishop Murphy.
Dillon Alexander replaced Trueblood on the mound for Blaine, but he didn’t fare any better. He walked Oster to start the inning. Huggins grounded to third and Oster was thrown out at second on a fielder’s choice. Huggins promptly stole second base and scored on the next at-bat when Carratt hit a double. Carratt’s double started a string of five straight hits for the Wildcats, capped off by a home run to left field by Varriano.
“He has been a key hitter. You wouldn’t think a leadoff hitter would be so key, but he leads our team in RBI,” Taloff said of Varriano. “It wasn’t just a one time thing, that has been an every time thing with him.”
Varriano batted 2-for-3 with a double, home run, two runs scored and two RBI. Huesers batted 2-for-3 with two runs scored and three RBI and Carratt, a recent junior varsity call up, batted 3-for-3 with a run scored and two RBI.
The Wildcats, who also won the Cascade Conference league title, set four goals at the beginning of the season. They wanted to win all four championships possible, the league championship, the district championship, the regional championship and the state championship.
“We are halfway to what it is that we set out to do at the beginning,” Taloff said.
Aaron Lommers writes for the Herald in Everett.
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