PORT ANGELES — Easton Napiontek, the 6-foot-8 pitcher who will play baseball for Central Washington University next year, picked up where he left off last year for the Roughriders.
Napiontek fanned eight of the 10 batters he faced to lead Port Angeles in its first baseball game of the 2012 season Saturday.
The 2A Riders pounded the 1A Forks Spartans 18-0 in five innings in the nonleague game at Civic Field.
Port Angeles got the game in on a wet field but no rain falling, and now has almost a full week off to ride out the rainy weather expected to hit the area starting Sunday night.
“It was nice to get a game in,” Port Angeles coach Bob Withrow said.
The Riders next will host Olympic League rival Klahowya in a nonleague contest Friday afternoon at Volunteer Field. The JV game is set for Civic Field.
Mows ’em down
Napiontek (1-0) threw the first three innings Saturday, mowing down the batters 1-2-3 in two of the three innings, giving up no hits and one walk.
Cole Uvila pitched the final two innings, giving up just one hit and striking out one. He faced just seven batters.
Napiontek also carried the big stick, going a perfect 2-for-2 at the plate with a triple, three runs scored, two RBIs and two walks.
No weak-hitting pitchers for the Riders in this first game as Uvila went 2-for-4 with three RBIs and two runs scored.
Other top hitters were Eli Fiscilini, who went 2-for-4 with a double, RBI and run scored; Brad Reandeau, who went 2-for-2 with two runs scored and an RBI; and Michael Konopaski, who had four RBIs in a 1-for-2 day with a run scored and a sacrifice-squeeze bunt that scored two runs.
The Spartans had one bad inning when they gave up 14 runs in the fourth inning.
“They let the fourth inning get away from them,” Withrow said.
Port Angeles 18, Forks 0, 5 innings
Forks 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 1 3
Port Angeles 2 0 2 (14) x — 18 13 0
WP- Napiontek (1-0); LP- Not available
Pitching Statistics
Forks: Not available.
Port Angeles: Napiontek 3IP, 0R, 0H, 8K, 1BB; Uvila 2IP, 0R, 1H, 1K, 0BB.
Hitting Statistics
Forks: Not available.
Port Angeles: Napiontek 2-2, 3B, 3R, 2RBI; Uvila 2-4, 2B, 3RBI, 2R, SB; Fiscilini 2-4, 2B, RBI, R; Reandeau 2-2, 2R, RBI; Mi. Konopaski 1-2, 4RBIs, R, sac.
Softball
Port Angeles 7,
Forks 6
PORT ANGELES — The Roughriders were missing a few players, including their pitching ace, but still, the youthful Spartans kept the game close thanks to a freshman playing her first-ever high school game at Dry Creek Elementary School on Saturday.
Forks varsity coach Scott Justus noticed short and thin Alisha Chase, a freshman in a JV uniform, taking some mighty swings during batting practice Friday.
“I asked her if she wanted to play on the varsity team in Saturday’s game,” Justus recounted.
“She just looked at me as if to say, ‘I’m just going to sit on the bench the whole game.’ ”
An assistant coach standing nearby said, “Hey, that’s a great idea.”
“But I don’t have a varsity uniform,” Chase answered.
“I’ll find you one,” Justus told her.
Thus started Chase’s prep career: coming out to bat against the older and bigger Roughriders and rallying the Spartans to within a run of the 2A school.
“She was a sparkplug for us,” Justus said. “She got everything going. She is so aggressive out there.
“We gave her the game ball.”
Chase stole a base, had a two-RBI single and generally kept the Rider fielders on their toes.
“She was a pleasant surprise,” Justus said. “This is what makes coaching worthwhile.”
The Riders had a 7-0 lead after three innings but Chase rallied the Spartans in the later innings as Forks scored the final six runs.
The short-handed Riders had 10 hits and only one error while the youthful Spartans had five errors. All seven Port Angeles runs were unearned.
Alisha Shaw went 3-for-4 for the Spartans with a stolen base while starting pitcher Jillian Raben went 2-for-3 with two runs scored and a stolen base.
Forks next plays today in nonleague action at Lake Quinault, weather permitting.
Port Angeles 7, Forks 6
Forks 0 0 0 1 1 3 1 — 6 6 5
Port Angeles 0 3 4 0 0 0 x — 7 10 1
Pitching Statistics
Forks: Raben 4 2/3 IP, 7H, 7R, 0ER; Shaw 1 1/3 IP, 0R, 3H.
Port Angeles: Not available.
Hitting Statistics
Forks: Shaw 3-4, SB; Raben 2-3, 2R, SB.
Port Angeles: Not available.