The Montesano Bulldogs advanced to the Final Four after winning twice at the 1A State Baseball Tournament on Saturday at Olympic Stadium in Hoquiam.
1A State Tournament Quarterfinal
Montesano 5, Colville 4
After a shaky start, Montesano found its game in time to continue its magical season.
The Bulldogs (22-3 overall) punched their ticket to the state Final Four with a 5-4 win over No. 12 Colville (16-8) in the state-quarterfinal round.
Monte got off to a rocky opening that nearly turned into a first-inning avalanche. An error followed a hit batter by starting pitcher Jackson Busz put two runners on with no outs. After Busz got Fox Bateman to pop out to Chrisitan Olsen in short left field, Crimson Hawks clean-up hitter Ethan Redberg drove in two runs with a double to left.
RYAN SPARKS | THE DAILY WORLD Montesano starting pitcher Jackson Busz allowed two earned runs over 4 2-3 innings pitched to pick up the victory in a 5-4 victory over Colville in a 1A State quarterfinal game on Saturday at Olympic Stadium in Hoquiam.
Busz then balked, hit a batter and walked Colbie McEvoy to load the bases with one out and get Monte’s bullpen up and running early in the game.
But the Monte right-hander managed his was out of the jam, retiring Jayson Hayward on an infield fly and Sam Mitchell on a fly ball to Kaleb Ames in center to limit the damage to two runs.
“I think it was just nerves and just trying to get settled in,” Monte head coach Mike Osgood said of his team’s early woes. “We were fortunate to get out of that first inning only giving up two, it could’ve been a lot worse. We’ve been resilient all year. Guys have been down and find a way to fight back and come back.”
Looking for a spark in the bottom half of the inning, all-state candidate Bode Poler provided just that. The Bulldogs junior shortstop belted Colville starting pitcher Bateman’s 3-1 pitch over the fence in right for a leadoff home run to cut the Crimson Hawks lead in half.
“We knew we had to get some runs back because we didn’t want to be down 2-0,” Poler said of his approach at the plate. “He just gave me a fastball right there and I put a good swing on it.”
RYAN SPARKS | THE DAILY WORLD Montesano’s Bode Poler rounds third after hitting a leadoff home run in the first inning of the Bulldogs’ 5-4 victory over Colville in a 1A State quarterfinal game on Saturday at Olympic Stadium in Hoquiam.
In the top of the second, a leadoff walk came around to score on a single by Luke Anderson to put Colville up 3-1.
Monte seemed to turn a corner in the third, loading the bases on singles by Busz and Ames sandwiched around a Poler walk. Second baseman Josh Wills stepped to the plate and smacked the first pitch he saw for a single to left field, scoring Busz and chasing home Poler after an error by Redberg in left field, allowing all runners to move up 90 feet and tying the game at 3-3.
RYAN SPARKS | THE DAILY WORLD Montesano shortstop Bode Poler tags out Colville’s Colbie McEvoy during the Bulldogs’ 5-4 victory over Colville in a 1A State quarterfinal game on Saturday at Olympic Stadium in Hoquiam.
With runners on second and third and one out, designated hitter Cam Taylor grounded out to short to push across Ames as Monte took its first lead of the game at 4-3.
“I think it just got to the point where the kids realized it’s just another baseball game,” Osgood said of his team’s turnaround. “Once we weren’t playing on our heels and got back to attack mode, we kind of got back to who we are.”
“We just had to settle in,” Poler said of the third-inning turnaround. “We love getting the momentum and getting ahead and we just let it ride all the way.”
One inning later, the Bulldogs got an insurance run when Poler drove in third baseman Jaxson Wilson with a fielder’s choice ground out for a 5-3 lead.
With two outs and nobody on in the top of the fifth, an error followed by a Hayward RBI single cut Monte’s lead to 5-4 and chased Busz from the bump.
With Hayward representing the tying run at second, Monte reliever Skylar Bove wheeled and threw to Wills covering the bag as Hayward took off for third. Wills threw to Wilson, who applied the tag to record the pick-off and end the threat, iliciting a roar from the Bulldogs faithful.
“It’s been my job all year to come in at clutch moments and to clutch up,” Bove said. “In practice on Thursday, we were going over those exact (pick-off) moves and I had to do it. … I had to make a play.”
As he did in the first-round game, Bove was lights out. The right-hander had the Crimson Hawks off-balance over the final two innings, not allowing a single base runner.
RYAN SPARKS | THE DAILY WORLD Montesano relief pitcher Skylar Bove threw 2 1-3 scoreless innings to earn the save in the Bulldogs’ 5-4 victory over Colville in a 1A State quarterfinal game on Saturday at Olympic Stadium in Hoquiam.
Bove combined with Wills to make a superb defensive play to leadoff the seventh, racing over to cover first after a high-bouncer got over the head of John Kling at first. Wills sprinted over, picked up the ball and quickly flipped to Bove, who touched first a half-step ahead of Anderson to record the out.
“They just made plays,” Osgood said. “That’s stuff we’ve been working on all season and it all came together today on a perfect day for us and we couldn’t be happier.”
“Skylar came up huge,” Poler said. “He’s been a guy to throw strikes all year and is really reliable. We just knew as soon as he got out there that he was going to show up.”
Bove struck out Redberg with a sharp breaking pitch in the dirt for the final out, with catcher Denali Harris throwing to John Kling at first to end the game and set off a massive Bulldog pile in the infield.
“We’re going to the Final Four,” Bove said of his thoughts following the final out. “This feels so much better than a league championship, I can’t even describe it.”
“It’s incredible. It’s awesome,” said Poler, nearly at a loss for words for what the Bulldogs had just accomplished.
After a rough start, Busz settled in to pick up the win, allowing four runs – two earned – on six hits with a pair of walks and three strikeouts in 4 2-3 innings pitched.
Bove earned the save with a perfect 2 1-3 innings pitched with two strikeouts.
With the win, No. 4 Montesano advances to the state Final Four, where it will face No. 1 Naches Valley – which split a doubleheader with the Bulldogs back on April 8 – in a state semifinal game at 1 p.m. on Friday, May 26 at Joe Martin Stadium in Bellingham.
No. 3 Klahowya faces No. 7 Cedar Park Christian (Bothell) in the other semifinal game.
Colville 210 010 0 – 4 6 1
Montesano 103 100 x – 5 7 2
WP: Busz (4.2 IP, 4 R, 2 ER, 6 H, 2 BB, 3 K). LP: Bateman (3 IP, 4 R, 3 ER, 6 H, BB, 4 K). SV: Bove (2.1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 2 K).
Leading hitters: Colville – Redberg (2-4, 2B, 2 RBI); Anderson (2-3, R, RBI); McEvoy (1-2, R); Hayward (1-3, RBI). Montesano – Ames (2-4, R); Wills (2-3, RBI); Poler (1-3, HR, 2 R, 2 RBI); Olsen (1-3); Busz (1-1); Taylor (0-3, RBI).
1A State Tournament First Round
Montesano 11, College Place 5
Montesano opened its state tournament with a first-round matchup against No. 13 College Place (16-7) and got in an early hole after the Hawks scored two first-inning runs on four consecutive singles off Bulldogs starting pitcher Cam Taylor.
But things changed once the Bulldogs got their turn at-bat, capturing the lead with a four runs in the bottom of the first highlighted by a two-run triple off the bat of second baseman Josh Wills.
Monte shortstop Bode Poler scored on a wild pitch to make it a 5-2 game after two innings and – after College Place scored a run on a Connor Mebes single in the top of the third – took a 7-3 lead with two runs in the fourth on a Kaleb Ames’ RBI single followed later by Ames scoring on a wild pitch.
In the top of the fifth, the Hawks scored two runs after a leadoff triple by Jacob Courtney followed by two straight singles to cut Monte’s lead to 7-5.
The Bulldogs pulled away with four runs in the fifth, highlighted by run-scoring singles from outfielder Jackson Busz and Ames.
Monte reliever did the rest, allowing a single and a walk before striking out the side in the sixth followed by a 1-2-3 seventh to send the Bulldogs to the state-quarterfinal round.
Taylor picked up the win, allowing five runs – four earned – on nine hits without a walk and two strikeouts in five innings pitched.
College Place 201 020 0 – 5 10 4
Montesano 410 240 x – 11 8 2
WP: Taylor (5 IP, 5 R, 4 ER, 9 H, 2 K). LP: Courtney (4 IP, 8 R, 7 ER, 5 H, 4 BB, 3 K).
Leading hitters: College Place – Harvey (3-4, 2 RBI); Courtney (2-4, 3B, 2 R); Long (2-4, 2 R, RBI); Josifek (1-4, R); Mebes (1-3, RBI); Arlington (1-3). Montesano – Ames (3-3, 2 R, RBI); Busz (2-3, 2B, R, RBI); Olsen (1-4, R, RBI); Wills (1-4, 3B, R, 2 RBI); Harris (1-2, 2B, 2 R), Poler (0-1, 2 R, RBI).
