STEILACOOM — The Port Angeles baseball team is one victory away from an automatic bid to the 2A state tournament after holding off a seventh-inning Steilacoom rally to beat the Sentinels 4-3 in the Roughriders’ second-round District 3 tournament game.
It was the seventh-straight win for the Riders and after a 4-10-1 start to the season, Port Angeles finally has a winning record at 11-10-1.
Port Angeles will next play Fife at Central Kitsap High School at 10 a.m. Saturday. If the Riders win that game, they automatically qualify for state and move on the district championship game at Central Kitsap at 3 p.m. against one of two very familiar opponents — Bainbridge or North Kitsap.
The Riders got off to a great start against Steilacoom, which came in to Tuesday’s game with a record of 14-5. Josiah Gooding had a two-run double in the first inning to give Port Angeles a lead right off the bat.
In the third inning, Port Angeles scored two more runs off a Steilacoom throwing error.
The Sentinels slowly chipped away at the Riders’ lead, going in to the bottom of the seventh down 4-2.
Brayden Martin came in to pitch the seventh and gave up two quick singles, which resulted in a run to make it 4-3. After he got a strikeout, he gave up a walk, then Port Angeles issued an intentional walk to get a force out at every base.
Up 4-3, with one out and the bases loaded, Martin bore down and finished the game with a strikeout and a groundout to shortstop Alex Angevine to end the game.
Rylan Politika started the game and went 4â…” innings, striking out two and allowing four hits and two earned runs. Bryce DeLeon pitched 1â…“ innings, striking out one.
Jordan Shumway finished the game 2-for-4 with a run scored, while Angevine had a hit, a run scored, two walks and two stolen bases. Pinch-runner Brandt Perry had two stolen bases and a run scored.
Port Angeles not only has a solid shot to make state, a district championship is within reach. The Olympic League has shown that it is consistently stronger than the South Puget Sound League teams this year with Olympic teams going 4-1 against SPSL teams in the tournament. Fife is 15-8 on the season and finished behind Steilacoom in the SPSL standings.
If Port Angeles makes it to the championship game Saturday afternoon, the Riders split two games against North Kitsap this season and lost two games to Bainbridge, both by one run. So the Roughriders know they can hang tough with both of these teams.
If Port Angeles ends up in the third-place game at 2 p.m. Saturday at Olympic High School, it will play either Olympic or Franklin Pierce.
Port Angeles 4, Steilacoom 3
PA 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 — 4 4 2
Ste. 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 — 3 6 2
Pitching
Port Angeles — Politika 4.2 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 2 K; DeLeon 1.1 IP, K; Martin IP, 2 H, ER, 2 K.
Hitting
Port Angeles — Gooding 1-3, 2B, 2 RBI, BB; Shumway 2-4, R; Angevine 1-2, R, 2 BB, 2 SB; Perry 2 SB, R.
Quilcene 4, Northwest Christian 0
QUILCENE — The Quilcene baseball team will play in the championship game of the District 1/2 1B tournament today after beating Northwest Christian behind an unusual combined no-hitter from Eli Allen and Oliver Hopkins.
Allen and Hopkins didn’t allow any hits, but they did walk a combined nine Northwest Christian batters. Allen threw 105 pitches through five innings and had to give way to Hopkins, who labored through 41 pitches in two innings. The duo combined to strike out 10 batters.
Quilcene managed just four hits itself in the pitchers’ duel. Jayden Love was 2-for-2 with two RBIs and a run scored, Allen hit a double and drove in a run and Aiden Cate hit a double.
Quilcene (12-2) plays Crosspoint Christian at 2 p.m. today at the Regional Athletic Complex in Lacey.
Quilcene 4, Northwest Christian 0
NWC 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 0 1
Quil. 0 0 2 1 1 0 x — 4 4 2
Pitching
Quilcene — Allen 5 IP, 0 H, 8 K, 7 BB; Hopkins 2 IP, 0 H, 2 BB, 2 K,
Hitting
Quilcene — Love 2-2, 2 RBI, R; Allen 1-3, 2B, RBI; Cate 1-3, 2B.
