MERIDIAN, Idaho — The Olympic Junior Babe Ruth 13U baseball team was a bit up and down Wednesday.
The team, comprised of players from Port Angeles and Sequim, lost its Pacific Northwest Regional Tournament pool play opener 11-4 to Twin Falls, Idaho.
Olympic then rebounded to drop South Coast (Coos Bay, Ore.) 3-1 in an afternoon matchup.
“This was a good team win for us,” coach Zac Moore said.
“We had a lot of guys play today.”
Brody Merritt started on the mound and went six innings in the later game, striking out six, allowing five hits and walking two.
“He pounded the [strike] zone,” Moore said.
“Only giving up two walks in six innings is a good performance.
“We also played very good defense behind him. We locked things down a couple times to keep us in the game.”
Olympic scored on a two-RBI single in the second inning from Brady Nickerson after Slater Bradley and Merritt reached with base hits.
After Coos Bay pushed a run across in the third, Olympic added an insurance run when Bradley doubled and later scored on a balk.
Lucas Jarnagin relieved Meritt for the final frame and picked up the save.
“He got two quick outs, and walked the third guy, but got the last batter to fly to short,” Moore said.
“He pitched well, too.
“It was very hot, and our guys were tired, but they pushed through it and played a good, close game.”
In the 9 a.m. opener, Olympic struggled defensively.
“We didn’t do all that well,” Moore said of the 9 a.m. opener.
“Basically, we were tired. You could tell we traveled, but that said, you have to go out and compete.”
Moore said Twin Falls got some breaks at-bat and made plays defensively to keep Olympic down.
“They fielded the ball really well and they threw strikes,” Moore said.
“They found holes when they hit the ball and we didn’t.
“We just have to have that consistency.”
Olympic continues pool play against Camas at 2 p.m. today.
Camas shutout The Dalles, Ore. 11-0 in its first game Wednesday.