PORT ANGELES — Wilder Senior had a rough outing against the Twin-Cities Titans, losing 15-0 in the second round of the American Legion AAA state tournament.
The score is a bit misleading as Wilder Senior was down just 2-0 entering the fifth inning and was behind just 4-0 entering the sixth. But Twin-Cities took advantage of some shaky Wilder defense to score 11 runs in the final two innings. Seven of those runs were unearned.
“I told them they have to just move on,” said coach Zac Moore. “We gotta be ready for tomorrow.”
Moore said that positives he saw in the game was that “[Pitcher] Colton [Romero] threw a good game except for one pitch. [Pitcher]Devyn [Dearinger] competed right away.”
Romero went five innings and allowed eight hits. Only two out of the eight runs he allowed were earned as his defense uncharacteristically committed five errors behind him. He hung tough for those five innings, going pitch-for-pitch against Twin-Cities pitcher Jabari Simon, who gave up two hits and struck out eight in 6⅓ innings.
In the sixth, the Wilder defense unraveled, making three straight errors to allow a run to come in, and putting two runners on. That came back to haunt the seniors as Romero made one mistake all game, and that was to Twin-Cities DH Ryan Hoerner, who then tomahawked a pitch at eye level for a three-run home run over the left-field fence to make it 8-0. Hoerner would not have even been at-bat in that situation if not for the errors as Romero should have been out of the inning.
From that point on, the floodgates opened as Wilder struggled to get the final six outs of the game and Twin-Cities scored seven more runs.
Dearinger pitched the seventh, stopping the bleeding with two strikeouts in two-thirds of an inning.
Though the defense struggled late, there were some solid defensive plays by Wilder earlier in the game. Jordan Shumway made a spectacular diving catch of a line drive in center field in the third inning and right fielder Ethan Staples followed up by making a good catch of a deep ball near the outfield fence. Catcher Luke Flodstrom threw a couple of strikes to nail baserunners, as well.
Alex Angevine and Bryant Laboy had the hits for Wilder. Laboy’s was a perfect bunt that went for a single.
Wilder Senior (17-18) is still alive in the tournament, one of the six teams still going. The seniors played the West Plains Cannons in the consolation bracket late Monday after press deadline. For results, look in Wednesday’s sports section or go online at www.peninsuladailynews.com. If Wilder wins that game, they will play again at 7 p.m. today at Civic Field against either Area 1 rival Lakeside Recovery or Twin-Cities again.
In other Sunday state tournament games, the Yakima Beetles beat Gonzaga Prep 6-5, the WP Cannons beat Mount Spokane 7-2 and Lakeside Recovery beat Pepsi Pak 8-2.
Twin-Cities 15, Wilder Senior 0
TC 1 0 0 1 2 4 7 — 15 14 0
WSr. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 2 5
Pitching
Wilder Sr. — Romero 5 IP, 8 H, 2 ER, K; Williams 1.1 IP, 5 H, 6 ER, K; Dearinger 0.2 IP, H, 2 K.
Hitting
Wilder Sr. — Angevine 1-3, BB; Laboy 1-2.
