BELLINGHAM — Cody Sullivan played with fire all game long.
It wasn’t until late in Saturday’s Class 2A state playoff game that it came back to burn the Port Angeles baseball team.
The Roughriders lost their first state playoff game in nine years as Sehome’s Austin Rapp hit an RBI-single in the bottom of the seventh inning to give the Mariners a 2-1 win Saturday at Martin Stadium.
“It’s disappointing, but I’m not going to take anything away from the way our guys played this year,” Port Angeles (12-10 overall) coach Bob Withrow said.
“They went out fighting.”
Indeed, it took a dramatic play at the plate for the Mariners to score the winning run on Rapp’s softly hit ground ball up the middle.
Derek Crain charged in as quickly as he could and fired a strike from center field, but the throw was a split second too late.
Sehome (18-7) moved on, then beat Sumner 13-3 in the next game to reach the 2A semifinals in Yakima.
“If it would have been hit a little harder, Derek would have been able to make a play at the plate,:” Withrow said. “He made a good throw, it was bang-bang. We just didn’t get the call.”
The ending spoiled a game performance from Sullivan on the mound.
The senior right-hander pitched out of jams in the first four innings after the Riders took an early 1-0 lead in the first frame.
Three out of the first four innings he allowed the lead-off runner to reach base but was able to escape unscathed.
After walking the lead-off batter in the fifth, however, Sehome bunted the runner over and then drove him in with a one-out double to tie the game.
Two innings later, Sullivan walked the lead-off runner again.
Following another Sehome sac bunt, Rapp dribbled his single up the middle to drive in the winning run.
“It was an exciting game. It’s better than going out 5-0 or 6-0,” Withrow said.
“We had our chances, we just couldn’t catch any breaks, and we got zero help from the [umpiring] crew there. That’s the way it goes.”
Sullivan finished with seven strikeouts, two walks and six hits in 6 1/3 innings of work.
“He pitched a gem again, he just ended up with the loss,” Withrow said.
The senior also scored the Riders’ lone run in the first inning after hitting a two-out double.
After a Sehome error, Easton Napiontek drove him in with a single.
Port Angeles got just one more hit the rest of the way against Sehome ace Hayden Knight. The senior struck out seven and walked two for the complete-game win.
“He was as good as anybody we’ve seen,” Withrow said. “A lot of our guys had really good swings. It just seemed like the ball went at people tonight.”
Port Angeles will graduate six seniors from this year’s team, which reached state for the first time in nine years. Among the departing players are Sullivan, Crain, A.J. Konopaski, Kyler Morgan, Daniel Pitz and Brian Senf.
“The guys fought hard to get where they were at,” Withrow said. “Obviously, we were hoping for better.”
Sehome 2, Port Angeles 1
Port Angeles 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 1 3 0
Sehome 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 — 2 6 3
WP- Knight; LP- Sullivan
Pitching Statistics
Port Angeles: Sullivan 6.1IP, 7K, 6H, 2ER, 2BB.
Sehome: Knight 7IP, 7K, R, 3H, 2BB.
Hitting Statistics
Port Angeles: Sullivan 1-3 (2B, R); Napiontek 1-3 (RBI); Mar. Konopaski 1-2.
Sehome: Wilson 2-3 (2B); Pitsch 1-3 (2B, R); Rapp 2-2 (sac bunt, RBI, SB).
1B tournament
Oakville 9, Quilcene 8
YAKIMA — The Rangers had their eyes on a Class 1B state title.
That may have kept them from getting their first state tournament win in school history.
A decision to take Quilcene ace Brandon Bancroft off the mound early in Saturday’s 1B quarterfinal ended up costing the Rangers dearly after the Acorns scored seven runs in the one inning he didn’t pitch in an extra-innings loss.
“We played to win the state championship as opposed to winning one state game,” Quilcene coach Joe Whitsett said.
“We could have gone for the first state win in school history, but we went for the championship.”
Quilcene (13-5 overall) jumped out to a 6-1 lead after three innings, giving Whitsett a chance to rest Bancroft for a possible semifinal matchup later in the day.
Just as soon as the senior starter was pulled, however, the Acorns scored seven runs in the fourth inning off Ranger relievers Jake Pleines and Dan Davidson.
By the time Bancroft returned to the hill in the fifth, the game was knotted at 8-8.
“You try to put the kids in the most successful position you can, and it turned out not to work this time,” Whitsett said. “That one inning just killed us.”
The Acorns eventually scored the go-ahead run in the top of the eighth inning off Bancroft, who gave up just one earned run in seven innings pitched.
Fittingly, the school’s all-time strikeout leader finished with 16 in his final game with the Rangers.
He allowed four hits and four walks as well, with the Acorns’ other five hits coming during the fourth-inning scoring outburst.
“Their kids were hitting the ball harder,” Whitsett said. “We just couldn’t hit the ball very hard.
“It’s kind of the story of the season. We’re great defensively, but we can’t make mistakes because we can’t hit out of them.”
Senior Jake Murray led the Rangers at the plate with a 2-for-3 day with a run scored and an RBI.
Davidson was 1-for-2 with two runs scored and a walk, while Angel Perez and Colten Pol were both 1-for-3 with two runs scored.
“Our big challenge was to win the state championship or at least go far in the state tournament,” Whitsett said, “so I think we fell short of our goals, and we fell short of our potential.
“But certainly we have the best kids in the world as far as character, that’s for sure.”
The Rangers are now 0-5 in state tournament games.
They graduate four seniors: Bancroft, Murray, Faustino Suarez and C.J. Schreier.
Oakville 9, Quilcene 8 (8 inn.)
Oakville 0 0 1 7 0 0 0 1 — 9 9 4
Quilcene 1 0 5 2 0 0 0 0 — 8 6 3
WP- Not reported; LP- Bancroft (4-3)
Pitching Statistics
Quilcene: Bancroft 7IP, 16K, 4BB, 4H, ER; Pleines 0.2IP, 5H, BB, K; Davidson 0.1IP, K.
Hitting Statistics
Quilcene: Bancroft 1-4 (2B, BB, R); Perez 1-3 (2R, BB); Murray 2-3 (R, RBI, HBP); Pol 1-3 (2B, 2R, BB, K); Davidson 1-2 (2R, BB).