ELLENSBURG — Port Angeles-based North Olympic beat Ferndale 11-9 to claim the 12U Cal Ripken state baseball championship.
North Olympic moves on to the regional tournament next week in Kalispell, Mont. The team is Port Angeles’ lone regional representative from North Olympic Baseball and Softball.
North Olympic also is the first Port Angeles boy’s team to win state representing North Olympic Baseball and Softball.
North Olympic led off Sunday’s championship game with an infield single by Ethan Floodstrom and an RBI double by Milo Whitman to grab an early one-run advantage.
Ferndale, however, countered with two runs of its own in the bottom of the inning to take an 2-1 lead.
In the top of the second, North Olympic scored three off a series of walks and another Whitman double.
But, again, Ferndale scored two in the bottom of the frame to even the score at 3-3.
In an effort to save its star pitcher, who was nearing his innings pitched limit, Ferndale pulled its starter and put in a pitcher who had pitched four innings in Ferndale’s previous game.
The switch proved costly as North Olympic’s Tanner Lunt took the first pitch thrown over the center-field wall.
The Port Angeles team wasn’t done, tacking on an additional five runs in the frame.
Slater Bradley, Nathan Miller and Tyler Bowen singled, and Brady Nickerson reached on error to bring in Bradley.
Miller and Bowen then scored off a Floodstrom double, and Nickerson came home on a batted ball by Derek Bowechop.
Ferndale put up a fight, scoring five of its own in the bottom of the fourth, but some solid defense by North Olympic, including a diving catch in center by Tyler Bowen, and some overpowering pitching by Brody Merritt shut Ferndale down the remainder of the way.
Floodstrom, Whitman, and Merritt combined on the mound to seal the victory.
In the semifinal, North Olympic downed Ellensburg 7-3 behind the hot hitting of Floodstrom.
Floodstrom smacked the game’s first pitch for a monster shot that easily cleared the 200-foot fence, catching a confident Ellensburg team off guard.
Floodstrom wasn’t done swatting; he added two more home runs, one in the second and another in the fifth.
Following the Floodstrom’s first homer, North Olympic loaded the bases and plated two more runs on RBIs by Tanner Lunt and Slater Bradley to take an early 3-0 lead.
The Port Angeles squad added two more in the third when Nathan Miller walked and Floodstrom brought him home with his second homer.
Nickerson then hit a home run over the left-field fence to put the game further out of reach.
Ellensburg threatened, scoring one run off a line-drive homer in the third and two more in the fifth, but strong pitching from Merritt and Timmy Adams, combined with some nice defense by Milo Whitman at short and Bowechop in right field kept Ellensburg at bay.
North Olympic finished off pool play Friday with a 15-3 win over Bellingham in four innings.
Alex Lamb went the distance pitching for North Olympic and was backed by some strong hitting.
Floodstrom and Merritt each had hits that left the yard, Bowechop launched a triple and Floodstrom and Bradley each had doubles.
The win gave North Olympic the No. 2 seed going into Saturday’s bracket play.
In its bracket-play opener, North Olympic edged Othello 6-5 in a hard-fought loser-out game.
North Olympic jumped out to an early 2-0 advantage with a pair of runs in the top of the first.
Floodstrom led off the game with a blistering triple just inside the first base bag and Whitman brought him in on a sacrifice bunt.
Merritt followed that up with a home run over the center-field fence.
Two more runs were scored in the top of the third. Floodstrom walked to start the rally, followed by back-to-back singles by Derek Bowechop and Milo Whitman.
Floodstrom scored from third on a Merritt fielder’s choice, and Whitman crossed home on a single by Adams.
Othello battled back, scoring three runs on Floodstrom in the bottom of the third and two more in the fourth to take a 5-4 lead.
North Olympic loaded the bases in the top of the fifth with singles by Floodstrom and Bowechop and a sacrifice bunt by Whitman in which Othello couldn’t make the play to get the lead runner.
After Adams drove in Floodstrom to tie the game, North Olympic pulled off a squeeze bunt when Lunt bunted down the first-base line to drive in the eventual game-winning run with Bowechop crossing the plate.
Merritt pitched the final two innings, holding Othello scoreless to advance North Olympic to the state semifinal matchup with Ellensburg.
11U Baseball
Port Angeles team falls in semis
FERNDALE — North Olympic 11U fell 9-1 to Eastmont in Sunday’s semifinals.
Kamron Meadows tripled for North Olympic, while Jake Felton, Adam Watkins and Chase Cobb each had singles.