The Twin Harbors two remaining prep baseball teams saw their seasons come to an abrupt end on Saturday, with both Montesano and Ocosta falling in the regional final of their respective state tournament.
1A State Tournament
Regional Round
Montesano 6, College Place 1
Montesano advanced to the 1A regional final with a 6-1 victory over College Place on Saturday at Castle Rock High School.
Montesano starter Ben Wills tossed a complete game two-hitter, allowing one unearned run while striking out five in leading the Bulldogs to the state regional final.
Down 1-0 in the bottom of the third inning, Montesano took the lead for good, scoring three runs on a balk and RBI hits from Teegan Zillyett and Payson Parker to give Monte a 3-1 lead.
Monte added an insurance run on a Cyrus Parson sacrifice fly in the fifth and took a 6-1 lead on an RBI single by Zillyett followed by a run-scoring ground out off the bat of Evan Bates in the sixth inning.
That was all Wills would need as the junior right-hander allowed a run in the third inning on a hit batter followed by two Monte errors. Sixty-seven of Wills’ 100 pitches were for strikes.
The top of Monte’s order did the bulk of the damage against College Place. Of the Bulldogs’ 13 hits, 12 came from the top five batters in the lineup, including three-hit games by Zillyett and Aaron Lano.
College Place 001 000 0 — 1 2 2
Montesano 003 012 0 — 6 13 2
WP — Wills (7 IP, R, 0 ER, 2 H, 5 K, BB); LP — Justin McKenzie (3 IP, 3 ER, 7 H, 3 K)
Top Players: Montesano — Zillyett (3-4, 3B, R, 2 RBI); Lano (3-4, 2B, 2 R); Parker Plato (2-3, 2 R): Evan Bates (2-4, R, RBI); Payson Parker (2-4, RBI); Wills (1-3).
Regional Final
Seattle Christian 4, Montesano 3
After early miscues created a four-run deficit, Montesano’s comeback attempt fell short as the Bulldogs’ season ended with a 4-3 loss to Seattle Christian in the regional final of the 1A State Tournament Saturday afternoon in Castle Rock.
Five Montesano errors led to a pair of Seattle Christian runs in both the first and third innings as the Bulldogs fell behind 4-0 after three innings.
But Montesano (22-3 overall) responded with three runs in the top of the fourth inning on a bases-loaded walk by Braeden Dohrmann followed by Aaron Lano’s two-run double that was laced to the left-centerfield gap.
The Bulldogs had multiple chances to knot the game up as the tying run reached base in each of the final three innings, but the Warriors (18-5) consistently worked out of jams.
Monte’s best chance to tie the game came in the sixth inning, when Zillyett stepped to the plate with Lano on first and one out. The senior center fielder ripped the first pitch he saw from Warriors reliever Colin Heffernen to the gap in right-centerfield.
But Seattle Christian center fielder Jeffrey Sichmeller raced back toward the fence and did his best Willie Mays impersonation, laying out to make a spectacular catch and rob Zillyett of a game-tying extra-base hit.
Seattle Christian players celebrate after centerfielder Jeffrey Sichmeller, middle, robbed Montesano’s Teegan Zillyett of the potential game-tying hit in the sixth inning of a 1A regional final on Saturday in Castle Rock. (Ryan Sparks | Grays Harbor News Group)
“That goes down as one of the best high school plays I’ve ever seen,” Montesano head coach Mike Osgood said of Sichmeller’s clutch catch. “If that ball drops, it’s a triple and a tie ballgame with one out and a guy on third base. We’d have a good chance to take the lead right there. I told the boys it just seemed like all the breaks went their way today.”
Monte had another chance to tie the game in the seventh when Evan Bates, who was aboard with a leadoff walk, reached second on a two-out error off a ball hit by Cy Parsons. After both runners advanced on a wild pitch, Heffernen got pinch hitter Cole Daniels to line out to right, ending the game and Monte’s bid for a state final four spot.
Montesano’s Cole Daniels is consoled after the final out of the Bulldogs’ 4-3 loss to Seattle Christian in a 1A regional final at Castle Rock High School. (Ryan Sparks | Grays Harbor News Group)
“We just weren’t us early, but Evan kept us in the game. … We had chances, it just seemed like we couldn’t catch a break,” said Osgood, whose team left 11 runners on base against the Warriors. “Good teams create their own breaks and today, we just struggled to create our own breaks.”
With the season ending earlier than he had hoped, Osgood reflected on a memorable season, one in which the Bulldogs won a district title.
“These guys really enjoyed playing with each other. They battled as a team all year long and to fall short like this, it hurts. They are all hurting.
“I’ve been coaching baseball for 18 years and I don’t know of a senior class that led as well as these guys, basically putting the team on their backs and willing it to win. This senior class (Bates, Zillyett, Shaydon Farmer, Payson Parker) is probably the most special that I’ve been around and they’ve had a lot of success and won a lot of baseball games. … I’m going to miss not having them. They’re not just good baseball players, but amazing kids.”
Montesano 000 300 0 — 3 4 5
Seattle Christian 202 000 0 — 4 7 1
WP — Nolan Stevenson (4.1 IP, 3 R, 3 ER, 4 H, 4 K, 7 BB); LP — Bates (6 IP, 4 R, ER, 7 K); SV — Heffernen (2.2 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 2 K, 3 BB)
Top Players: Montesano — Lano (1-3, 2B, 2 RBI); Zillyett (1-3); Bates (1-3); Farmer (1-3, R); Payson Parker (0-3, R); Carter Olson (0-2, R).
Chelan 5, Hoquiam 2
A three-run bomb in the third inning ended up being too much for Hoquiam to overcome in a 5-2 season-ending loss to Chelan on Saturday in the 1A District IV Tournament.
Hoquiam (14-9 overall) was trailing 2-0 in the third inning until Chelan (20-2) blew the game open with a homer from Cade Christopherson that put the score at 5-0.
The Grizzlies pulled closer with a pair of runs in the sixth and seventh. Liam Odell knocked in Payton Quintanilla with a single in the sixth and Quintanilla singled home Jackson Folkers in the seventh.
That would be the extent of the Grizzlies offense for the day as they left two runners on base in the bottom of the seventh to end the game.
“It was a fun season that came to a sudden end,” Hoquiam head coach Steve Jump said. “The parents and the community should be proud of the Grizzly baseball players. They are a quality group of young men.”
Hoquiam 000 0011 – 2 4 3
Chelan 113 000 x – 5 4 1
WP – Drake Bird (5 IP, 6 K, 5 H); LP – Quintanilla (3 IP, 4 ER, HR, 3 K)
Top Hitters: Chelan – Bryson Darlington (HR, 3 RBI), Christopherson (2 H, 2 R) ; Hoquiam – Folkers (2-4, R) Quintanilla (2B, R)
2B State Tournament
Regional Round
Ocosta 4, Crosspoint 3
Cesar Martinez’s single in the bottom of the seventh inning scored Kobe Beck as the Ocosta Wildcats advanced to the 2B regional final with a 4-3 walk-off win over Crosspoint in the regional round of the 2B State Tournament on Saturday at Adna High School.
Ocosta (21-5) trailed 3-1 after four innings but tied the game in the sixth when Cole Hatton and Martinez came around to score on Jayden Matthews’ two-run double.
After Harley Figueroa doubled to lead off the seventh, Kobe Beck walked. Hatton followed with a sac-bunt attempt, but Figueroa was thrown out at third for the first out of the frame.
Colby Scheuber followed with a walk to load the bases for Martinez, who took Crosspoint pitcher Gage Broderson’s 1-2 pitch to center field, scoring Beck with the winning run.
With the victory, Ocosta advanced to the regional final against Kalama later in the day.
Crosspoint 000 300 0 — 3 5 4
Ocosta 000 102 1 — 4 5 2
WP — Beck (3.2 IP, 3 R, 3 ER, 5 H, 2 K, BB); LP — Broderson (6.1 IP, 4 R, 2 ER, 5 H, 4 K, 3 BB)
Top Players: Ocosta — Matthews (2-3, 2B, 3 RBI); Martinez (2-4, 2 R, RBI).
Regional Final
Kalama 13, Ocosta 1
An 11-run fourth inning put an end to Ocosta’s season as the Wildcats fell 13-1 to Kalama in a 2B regional final on Saturday in Adna.
Tied at 1-1 heading to the top of the fourth, Kalama (23-2) erupted for 11 runs in the frame. Seven of the Chinooks’ eight hits occurred in the fourth and Kalama also benefited from four walks, a hit batter and an error in a nightmarish half-inning for Ocosta.
Ocosta head coach Mike Allton said the seeds for the loss were planted against Crosspoint earlier in the day.
“Our goal for the day was to save Cole for Kalama,” Allton said of his ace pitcher and two-time Pacific League MVP. “We didn’t put ourselves in good position down 3-0 to Crosspoint. We had to bring Cole in the top of the fourth to keep Crosspoint at bay. That hurt us going forward. (Against Kalama) everything fell apart once Cole left the game (due to pitch count limit). We lost game two by not taking care of business in the first game.”
Allton said he was proud of his players and what they accomplished this season.
“I told the boys a 21-4 season and being a game away from the state final four, I’ll sign up for that any day of the week,” he said. “We‘re a young team and I look forward next year to taking the next step and getting there. … Matthews and Beck had excellent senior seasons and I’m very proud of them and all the players.”
Kalama 010 (11)10 — 13 8 0
Ocosta 100 000 0 — 1 2 3
WP — Brady Vance (5 IP, ER, 2 H, 8 K, 2 BB); LP — Hatton (3 IP, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 H, 4 K, 3 BB)
Top Players: Ocosta — Martinez (1-2, RBI); Hatton (1-2); Beck (0-1, R); Kalama — Shayden Jones (2-3, 2B, 3 R, 2 RBI); Chase Staup (2-2, 2 R, 2 RBI).
Montesano’s Teegan Zillyett (8) slides into second base as Seattle Christian infielder Connor Knack makes a throw to complete a double play during Saturday’s 1A regional final in Castle Rock. (Ryan Sparks | Grays Harbor News Group)
