PORT ANGELES — While the Port Angeles baseball team sometimes struggles to hit, the Roughriders have shown this season they can play with just about anyone thanks to their defense, pitching and baserunning.
The Riders literally bunted themselves to victory with three runs in the bottom of the sixth to beat Olympic 5-2 on Tuesday. Port Angeles then completed a game suspended back on March 26 due to lightning, giving the first-place Bainbridge Spartans all they could handle, but falling 6-5 in eight innings.
In the Olympic game, Port Angeles went into the bottom of the sixth tied 2-2 after Olympic pushed across a pair of runs in the top of the inning.
Trae Hanan began a big rally with a leadoff single. Then the Riders put their bunting skills to work.
Rylan Politika bunted and got on base on an error. Josiah Gooding bunted and got on base on another error to load the bases.
Bryce Deleon then pulled off a perfect suicide squeeze bunt to score Hanan from third, giving Port Angeles a 3-2 lead. Nate Basden and pinch-runner Carson Waddell then executed a second perfect suicide squeeze to make it 4-2. Four straight bunts led to two runs.
Luke Flodstrom hit a grounder that led to an error, allowing Gooding to score.
Kody Williams pitched great in the victory, going six innings and allowing six hits and two earned runs. He struck out one. Brayden Martin pitched a perfect seventh with a strikeout to earn the save. Jordan Shumway had a two-run double in the first inning.
The win was important because it pushed the Riders into a three-way tie for third in the Olympic League at 4-5 behind league powers Bainbridge and North Kitsap. Port Angeles split two games with North Kitsap and lost both of its games to Bainbridge by one run.
The Bainbridge game was restarted in the top of the sixth inning tied 5-5. Bainbridge had just finished a game with Sequim and was able to go the extra 15 miles to complete the Port Angeles game.
Port Angeles had a golden chance to win this game in the bottom of the sixth and it was reminiscent of the sixth inning in the Olympic game.
Hunter Stratford started the inning by getting on base on an error and Deleon laid down another perfect bunt for a clean single. Alex Angevine loaded the bases when he got on base on an error.
The Riders had their best hitter coming up in Nate Basden, but Bainbridge fireballer McCrea Curfman, who has been clocked with an 88-mph fastball, struck out Basden and Kody Williams to get out of the jam. Curfman ended up striking out six in 2⅓ innings.
“We needed to put the ball in play there,” said coach Zac Moore.
Bainbridge broke through for a run in the top of the eighth thanks to a bit of luck. They got a pair of two-out singles then hit a ground ball to first for what looked like a third out. But the ball took a bad hop and got through first baseman Politika to score a run. Bainbridge got the Riders out three-up, three-down in the bottom of the eighth.
“That was just a bad bounce. That’s a play Rylan makes all the time.,” Moore said.
“We want to be in games like this. It makes us tougher in the end,” he said.
Port Angeles (4-5, 4-9-1) played Olympic (3-6, 6-7) again Wednesday for a chance to get into third place all alone. The Riders next play at Orting in a nonleague game Friday.
Port Angeles 5, Olympic 2
Oly. 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 — 2 6 3
PA 2 0 0 0 0 3 x — 5 8 2
Pitching
PA — Williams 6 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, K; Martin IP, K.
Hitting
PA — Basden 1-3, R, RBI; Shumway 2-3, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Hanan 1-2, R; Gooding 1-3, R.
Bainbridge 6, PA 5, 8 innings
BI 0 0 3 1 1 0 0 1 — 6 11 3
PA 2 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 — 5 2 0
Pitching
Martin 3 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 4 K; Angevine 2 IP, 3 H, ER, 2 K; Williams 2 IP, 3 H, ER, K; Flodstrom 0.2 IP, K; Stratford 01. IP K.
Hitting
PA — Angevine 1-4, 2 R, 3 SB; Deleon 1-4.
Bainbridge 10, Sequim 2
SEQUIM — The Sequim baseball team held Bainbridge scoreless until the fifth inning, but the Spartans broke through for six runs in the fifth and four more in the sixth in a 10-2 win over the Wolves.
Only four of the runs were earned as the Wolves committed five errors. Zeke Schmadeke started, allowing seven hits and four earned runs, while walking one and striking out one. Bryant Laboy went two innings, allowing three hits and no earned runs. He struck out one.
At the plate, the Wolves got doubles from Laboy and Logan Doyle. Hunter Tennell also had a hit.
Sequim (4-5, 4-9) played at Bainbridge (8-0, 11-3) on Wednesday after press deadline, then hosts Cedar Park Christian at 4:15 p.m. today in a nonleague game.
Bainbridge 10, Sequim 2
BI 0 0 0 0 6 4 0 — 10 10 0
Seq. 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 x — 2 3 5
Pitching
Sequim — Schmadeke 5 IP, 4 ER, BB, 4 K; Laboy 2 IP, 3 H, K.
Hitting
Sequim — Doyle 1-3, 2B, R; Laboy 1-3, 2B; Tennell 1-2.
RSB 6, Forks 5 Forks 18, RSB 5
RAYMOND — The Forks baseball team bounced back from a devastating loss to crush Raymond-South Bend in the nightcap.
Forks went into the seventh inning up 5-1, but allowed five runs in the bottom of the seventh to the Ravens to lose 6-5. The loss spoiled a great start by pitcher Landen Olson, who went 5⅔ innings, allowing just one hit with seven strikeouts.
The Spartans were fired up in the second game, however, and won 18-11 as Titus Rowley and Connor Clark combined on the mound to allow just three hits. Landen Olson had a triple and RBI, while Cashtien Barajas had a double and a run scored in the first game.
In the second game, Clark was 2-for-2 with two RBIs, while Cordel Horejsi was 2-for-4 with two runs scored. Radley Bennett had two runs scored and three RBIs, while Lane Helvey had a double, two runs scored and two RBIs.
Forks (5-3, 6-4) will play a nonleague doubleheader at Coupeville on Saturday.
Forks 18, RSB 5
Forks 0 3 5 4 2 4 x — 18 11 2
RSB 0 0 3 1 1 0 x — 5 3 6
Pitching
Forks — Clark 2.1 IP, 2 H, K; Rowley 3.2 IP, H, Er, 3 K.
Hitting
Forks — Clark 2-2, 2 RBI; Horejsi 2-4, 2 R; Helvey 1-4, 2B, 2 R, 2 RBI; Bennett 1-3, 2 R, 3 RBI; Barajas 1-3, 3 R, RBI, BB.
RSB 6, Forks 5
Forks 0 0 0 1 3 1 0 — 5 7 3
RSB 0 0 0 0 0 1 5 — 6 2 4
Pitching
Forks — Olson 5.2 IP, H, 7 K; Dent 0.2 IP, 3 ER, K; Helvey 0.1 IP, H.
Hitting
Forks — Dent 1-4, R, RBI; Bennett 1-3, R, RBI; Highfield 2-3; Olson 1-4, 3B, RBI.
Girls Softball RSB 14, Forks 1 RSB 12, Forks 3
FORKS — The Forks softball team actually got decent pitching against league-leading Raymond-South Bend squad, but struggled in the field and at the plate in a pair of lopsided losses 14-1 and 12-3.
Forks was no-hit in the first game and committed 11 errors. Chloe Gaydeski pitched well, going five innings and allowing seven hits and just three earned runs. She struck out seven. Gaydeski also scored a run while Kendyl Woody had an RBI.
In the second game, Gaydeski and Bailey Johnson combined in the circle to allow nine hits and three earned runs, while striking out seven, but again, Forks struggled in the field, making 12 errors and allowing nine unearned runs.
Gaydeski had a hit and an RBI, while Johnson and Fynlie Peters each had a hit and a run scored.
Forks (3-5, 7-6) next plays a nonleague doubleheader at Coupeville on Saturday.
RSB 14, Forks 1
RSB 2 0 6 3 3 x x — 14 7 1
Forks 0 0 0 1 0 x x — 1 0 11
Pitching
Forks — Gaydeski 5 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 7 K.
Hitting
Forks — Gaydeski 0-2, R; Woody 0-2, RBI.
RSB 12, Forks 3
Forks 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 — 3 3 12
RSB 0 3 1 5 0 3 x — 12 9 2
Pitching
Forks — Johnson 4 IP, 6 H, ER, 4K; Gaydeski 2 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 3 K.
Hitting
Forks — Johnson 1-4, R; Peters 1-3, R; Gaydeski 1-3, RBI.
