PHOTO GALLERY: North Thurston claims first place with contentious 7-6 win over Wilson
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Wilson took a 6-5 lead into the bottom of the seventh inning but North Thurston pushed across two runs in the final frame to knock off Wilson, 7-6, to claim first place in the 3A Narrows League.
After North Thurston tied the score at six all in the seventh, Saralyn Campbell singled to right field. The throw home appeared to beat North Thurston’s Dejah Hickman by a few steps but the ump called her safe and set off a wild celebration on the home side and a furious argument by the visitors.
Once the dust settled, North Thurston found themselves on top of the league standings at 7-1, a half game ahead of Timberline (6-1) and a full game ahead of Wilson, who fell to 6-2 with the loss.
PHOTO GALLERY: Blazers claim league title with 2-0 win over Rams
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A double-squeeze laid down by Blake Nystrom in the third inning scored Chris Roy and Matt Mercer and that was all Timberline would need in claiming the 3A Narrows League title with a 2-0 win over North Thurston on the Rams’ home field.
Cobi Beal, Zach Owens and Tony Ortiz combined to pitch a two hit shutout for the Blazers, who are now 10-0 in league play and 15-2 overall and have outscored their opponents 101-6 in league play. They face Shelton for two games to finish out the regular season and will then be the #1 seed in the Narrows League tournament beginning next week at The RAC.
Riley Storedahl picked up the hard luck loss going 6 1/3 innings with six strikeouts and the Rams fell to 8-2 in league and 11-5 overall. They next face Mount Tahoma twice to close out the regular season and will likely go into the tournament as the #2 seed.
Today (4/22): Narrows League leaders in baseball, softball face off at North Thurston
College baseball
Saint Martin’s vs. Central Washington – Saints Baseball Field – 1:30 PM
Saint Martin’s and Central resume their postponed game from Sunday afternoon. The Wildcats led 5-3 in the top of the fifth inning when the rains came.
High school baseball
Timberline @ North Thurston – North Thurston HS – 4:00 PM
Olympia vs. Stadium – Crandall Field – 4:00 PM
North Thurston and Timberline face off once again in 3A Narrows League action with first place on the line. The Blazers currently sit atop the standings at 9-0 following a 5-2 win over the Rams on Friday afternoon. North Thurston is in second place at 8-1. The Rams will most likely start their ace, Ryan Mets, while Timberline used their top pitcher, Matt Mercer, on Friday.
High school softball
North Thurston vs. Wilson – North Thurston HS – 4:00 PM
Olympia vs. Gig Harbor – Stevens Field – 4:00 PM
Timberline vs. Lincoln – Timberline HS – 4:00 PM
River Ridge @ Capital – Capital HS – 4:30 PM
First place is also on the line in the 3A Narrows League softball standings at North Thurston where the Rams host Wilson. The two teams sit tied at 6-1 in league play. The Rams have scored a league high 138 runs this season and are 9-4 overall while Wilson struggled in non-league play and are 6-5 overall having scored just 85 runs.
Sunday scoreboard: Saints split in Canada; Bielaski walk off homer tops Central; Oly Rollers gas Toxic 253
College softball
Saint Martin’s 8, Simon Fraser 4
Simon Fraser 2, Saint Martin’s 0 – Recap from SMUSaints.com
Despite giving up four runs in the first three innings of game one, Sam Munger picked up here 17th win of the season in #21 Saint Martin’s 8-4 victory over Simon Fraser in Burnaby, British Columbia. Down 4-2 through five innings, Taviah Jenkins tied the game with a two run double and then scored the eventual game winner on a passed ball in the sixth. The Saints tacked on three more in the seventh to secure their 32nd win of the year.
In game two, The Clan’s Kelsey Hawkins spun a gem allowing just three hits in a 2-0 shutout. Taylor Bakos went the distance for the Saints allowing just two runs in the third inning and fell to 13-7 this season.
Saint Martin’s is now 32-13 and remains in first place in the GNAC at 14-6, one game ahead of Central Washington. The Saints return home on Saturday with a pair of games against Northwest Nazarene and another pair on Sunday against Central.
College baseball
Saint Martin’s 5, Central Washington 4 (10 innings) – Recap
Alex Bielaski hit a solo walk off home run in the tenth inning to lead Saint Martin’s to a 5-4 win over Central Washington in game one today’s doubleheader. Bielaski led the way with three hits as the Saints picked up just their fifth win of the season. Anthony Klonitsko picked up the win working 2 2/3 scoreless innings in relief. Brad Banker got the start for the Saints and allowed two earned runs over 6 2/3 innings.
Game two of the doubleheader was suspended in the top of the fifth inning with Central Washington leading 5-3. The two teams will resume their game tomorrow at 1:30 PM.
Rugby
PNRFU Division III championship game
Corvallis Brewers 27, Budd Bay Buffaloes 24
With a 27-24 loss to Corvallis, Budd Bay took second place at the Pacific Northwest Rugby Football Union championships in Bend, Oregon. The Buffaloes move on to the Pacific Coast Division II playoffs in San Francisco on May 4th and 5th.
Roller derby
Oly Rollers USARS 247, Toxic-253 20
Today (4/21): Saints baseball; Geoducks, Saints spring soccer
College baseball
Saint Martin’s vs. Central Washington (DH) – Saints Baseball Field – 12:00 PM
Men’s spring soccer
Evergreen @ Saint Martin’s – SMU Soccer Field – 1:00 PM
Saturday scoreboard: #21 Saints split in Bellingham; Cougars, T-Birds pick up EvCo wins
College softball
Saint Martin’s 3, Western Washington 1
Western Washington 5, Saint Martin’s 2 – Recap from SMUSaints.com
Dani Wall went 3-for-3 and drove in all three Saint Martin’s runs and reigning national player of the week Sam Munger gave up just one earned run on three hits to lead the #21 Saints to a 3-1 game one win over Western Washington. Munger won her 16th game of the season and Madi Davis had a pair of hits in the win.
In game two, the Saints and Vikings were tied at two through five innings but a catcher’s inference and two errors led to three runs for Western in their 5-2 victory. Taylor Bakos went the distance and gave up two earned runs but picked off the loss due to five Saint Martin’s errors. Wall continued her perfect day going 2-for-2 with an RBI and Munger added three hits in the loss.
Saint Martin’s remains in first place in the GNAC at 13-5 and are now 31-12 overall. They head to Canada tomorrow and will take on Simon Fraser in doubleheader action beginning at 1:00 PM.
College baseball
Central Washington 7, Saint Martin’s 6
Central Washington 9, Saint Martin’s 2 – Photo gallery – Recap
High school baseball
Capital 4, Black Hills 3
Tumwater 2, Aberdeen 1
Capital’s Tom Kerr was touched up for three runs in the first inning but pitched five scoreless innings, striking out 14 Black Hills batters to lead Capital to a 4-3 win. The Cougars broke through with runs in the fourth and fifth innings before taking the lead with two runs in the bottom of the sixth. Joe Conley relieved Kerr in the seventh to pick up the save.
Tumwater moved into third place in the 2A EvCo with a 2-1 win over second place Aberdeen. Garrett Terrell drove in a run in the first inning and Riley Owen drove in what proved to the game winner in the fourth for the T-Birds.
Boys soccer
Yelm 6, Black Hills 2
Rugby
Pacific Northwest Rugby Football Union Championships
Budd Bay 54, Salem 28
Budd Bay moves into championship round on Sunday. They will place Corvallis at 1:00 PM in Bend, Oregon.
Spring college women’s soccer
Saint Martin’s 3, Concordia 0
Saint Martin’s 0, Portland State 0
PHOTO GALLERY: Saints drop two to Central
Mired in one of the worst seasons in Saint Martin’s baseball history and facing second place Central Washington, the Saints jumped out to a 6-3 lead in game one of today’s doubleheader. But they were once again unable to hold a lead and fell to the Wildcats 7-6. Combined with their 9-2 loss in game two, SMU dropped to 4-34 overall and 2-19 in conference play.
The bright spot this season has been Chandler Tracy, who continued to rake going 3-for-4 with a pair of runs scored and an RBI in game one and 1-for-2 in game two. Tracey raised his average to .326 and leads the GNAC with 12 home runs. Travis Shaw, the Saints’ leading hitter, went 3-for-8 in the doubleheader to raise his average to .336.
But Central Washington’s Kyle Sani tied Tracy for the conference lead with two blasts in the game one, a two run job in the fifth inning and a solo shot to straight away center field in the seventh. Olympia High School alum Joel Johnson started at shortstop in game two and went 2-for-3 with a run scored.
The two teams meet again tomorrow. First pitch in the doubleheader is scheduled for noon.
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Today (4/20): Saints baseball doubleheader; T-Birds host Aberdeen
College baseball
Saint Martin’s vs. Central Washington (DH) – Saints Baseball Field – 1:00 PM
High school baseball
Tumwater vs. Aberdeen – Tumwater HS – 1:00 PM
Friday scoreboard: Blazers and Bears take over first place; Oly soccer rocks T-Birds
High school baseball
Timberline 5, North Thurston 2
Olympia 2, Bellarmine 0
Timberline’s Matt Mercer went seven innings and gave up just two runs in the top of the seventh inning to lead the Blazers to a 5-2 victory over North Thurston in a battle of the 3A Narrows League’s two undefeated teams. With the win, Timberline moves into sole possession of first place and are now 9-0 in league play while the Rams fall into second place at 8-1.
The Blazers jumped out to an early lead on the Rams and starting pitcher Tyler Ridgeway when Josiah Julagay scored a run in the first inning. They would add three runs in the fifth inning and another in the sixth to extend their lead to 5-0.
Hayden Maliska hit a two run home run in the top of the seventh inning to cut the Blazers’ lead to three and had men on second and third with two outs before Mercer and Timberline got the final out to keep them undefeated in league play.
Blake Nystrom drove in three runs and Ryan Connor drove in another for the Blazers.
The two teams meet again on Monday afternoon at North Thurston High School.
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Elliott Loague pitched a no-hitter, striking out seven batters, and Olympia broke a tie atop the 4A Narrows League standings with their 2-0 win over Bellarmine in Tacoma. The two teams were locked in a pitchers duel through five innings until Gabe Padukiewicz doubled to drive in the game winning runs in the top of the sixth. The Bears move to 8-1 in league play while the Lions fall to 7-2 with both losses coming to Oly.
Boys soccer
Olympia 5, Tumwater 0
Toben Feldman scored the first two goals of the game, one in the first half and another in the opening minutes of the second half, in Olympia’s 5-0 non-league win over Tumwater. Devon Parman, Jacob Wright and Neal Boyal each added goals for the Bears in the second half four goal onslaught.
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