PREP BASEBALL
Montesano 4, Hoquiam 3
Evan Bates pitched another gem against Hoquiam as the Bulldogs pulled out another close victory over the Grizzlies, winning the rematch 4-3 on Thursday in Hoquiam.
Bates used his curveball and off-speed pitches to keep batters off balance, striking out six batters in a complete-game performance.
Montesano head coach Mike Osgood said Bates and pitching coach Drew Maybe worked well together to limit Hoquiam’s offense.
“Coach Maybe had a great gameplan for Evan and he executed really well. His curveball was probably his best pitch.” he said. “These guys were really familiar with Evan since they played him last week and he kept battling even when they hit him hard.”
Montesano’s Shaydon Farmer tosses the ball to pitcher Evan Bates as he comes over to cover first base in the third inning of a game against Hoquiam on Thursday. (Hasani Grayson | Grays Harbor News Group)
Before Bates even set foot on the mound, he helped his own cause with a line-drive single up the middle that drove in Aaron Lano and Parker Plato to give Monte a 2-0 lead in the first.
The Bulldogs (14-2, 8-0 Evergreen 1A) manufactured another run in the third inning. Teegan Zillyett got the rally started by working a walk against Hoquiam starter Zach Elsos.
Zillyett then stole second base and was driven home by Payson Parker, who hit a single up the middle to expand Monte’s lead to 3-0 in the top of the third.
Hoquiam (11-6, 7-3) didn’t go down quietly and responded with a pair of runs in the bottom of that inning.
Alex Reyes came up with a productive out and grounded out to the right side of the infield which allowed Camden Templer to score from third base.
Payton Quintanilla followed that up with an RBI double into the left-centerfield gap that plated Jackson Folkers to trim Monte’s lead to 3-2.
Hoquiam’s Payton Quintanilla launches a double into the left-centerfield gap in the fourth inning against Montesano. (Hasani Grayson | Grays Harbor News Group)
Hoquiam went to the bullpen in the top of the fourth and gave the ball to Michael Jump who pitched the rest of the game for the Grizzlies.
Jump didn’t surrender any earned runs, but Hoquiam’s defense faltered in the fifth inning to allow the Bulldogs to score what proved to be the game-winning run. The fifth frame started out when catcher Troy McMinn lost a Plato pop up in the lights, allowing the ball to drop just in front of the dirt around the plate in fair territory. McMinn was challenged again defensively when a well-placed bunt from Bates down the third base line forced the catcher to make a difficult throw down to first base. Bates advanced to second on the throw while Plato advanced to third on the play.
Parker came up with another RBI in his next at-bat, hitting a sacrifice fly to center field to put the Bulldogs up 4-2.
Hoquiam picked up a run in the sixth on an RBI double from Liam Odell, but Odell’s extra-base hit would end up being the Grizzlies last hit of the game.
Bates retired five of the next six batters he faced to shut the door on any Hoquiam comeback attempt and secure the victory.
The win is Monte’s second one-run victory over Hoquiam this season and puts the Bulldogs three games up on second-place Hoquiam with four games to play.
Montesano’s Parker Plato (5) celebrates with Braden Dohrmann (5) after scoring a run in a game against Hoiquiam on Thursday. (Hasani Grayson | Grays Harbor News Group)
Parker was happy to come away with the road victory and mentioned that tight ball games like this can wear on your nerves.
“It’s fun. It’s always a little nerve-racking with a close game, but we made good plays tonight and got enough runs to win the game,” he said.
Due to their weather-altered schedule, Montesano will play four games in eight days including a home game against Tenino at 5 p.m. on Friday.
Osgood said he trusts his pitching staff and the rest of his roster to handle the workload without any major issues.
“With baseball, sometimes it’s better to play games than to practice,” he said. “We have enough arms that I would play everyday of the week if we could. The big thing is going out there and battling.”
Hoquiam has two games left on its schedule and is out of the league-title picture with Thursday’s loss.
Inclement weather also played havoc with Hoquiam’s schedule as the Grizzlies came into the Monte game on the back end of a double header. Hoquiam to a 12-0 victory over Forks earlier that day in what ended up being a five inning affair.
Coach Jump said he would have liked to stay within striking distance by sweeping the doubleheader, but still feels like his team is picking up momentum with the postseason fast approaching.
“We’re disappointed with the loss, but we’re really excited about where we’re at. We’re playing good baseball right now and we’re peaking at the right time,” he said. “We have a lot of kids hitting the ball well and I was very impressed with Michael’s pitching.”
Hoquiam’s next game is another local matchup at Elma at 4:30 p.m. in Elma.
Montesano 201 010 0 – 4 4 1
Hoquiam 002 001 0 – 3 8 1
WP – Bates (CG, 3 ER, 8 H, 6 K); LP – Elsos (3 IP, 3 ER, 3 K, 3 BB)
Top Hitters: Montesano – Bates (2-3, 2 RBI), Parker (1-2, 2 RBI, BB); Hoquiam – Odell (2-3, RBI, 2B), Quintanilla (RBI, 2B)
Hoquiam 12, Forks 0
Hoquiam jumped on Forks early and never looked back in a 12-0 victory over the Spartans on Thursday in Hoquiam at Olympic Stadium.
Forks (3-7, 6-9 Evergreen 1A) didn’t have any answers for Payton Quintanilla as the infielder went 3-for-3 with three RBI in the victory.
Kyle Larsen also had some solid plate appearances, going 2-for-3 with three RBI.
Zach Elsos started the game on the mound for the Grizzlies and only threw 44 pitches, which made him available to start the night cap against Montesano as well.
Hoquiam head coach Steve Jump said his team has a good idea of where it will end up in the standings after splitting Thursday’s games. Jump said he isn’t focused on what other teams in the league are doing and is more interested in fine tuning some things before the start of the postseason.
“We’re going to finish second for sure. No one is going to be able to reach us so we’ll finish out the games the best we can and play hard going into the postseason,” he said.
Hoquiam (11-6, 7-3) will take on Elma in its next game. First pitch is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. on Monday in Elma.
Hoquiam 254 1x – 12 9 1
Forks 000 00 – 0 2 4
WP – Elsos (4 IP, 5 K, 2 H) LP – Windle (2 IP, K BB 5 ER)
Top Hitters: Hoquiam – Larsen (2-3 3 RBI), Quintanilla (3-3, 3 RBI)
PREP SOFTBALL
Aberdeen 16, Rochester 6
Aberdeen pulled away from Rochester with big rallies in the second and third innings to turn a close game into a blowout with a 16-6 win over the Warriors in Rochester on Thursday.
Aberdeen (6-6, 5-4 Evergreen 2A) found itself in 3-3 tie at the top of the second inning and pulled ahead with six runs in the second.
The Bobcats batted around in the second inning and did the same in the third inning where they tacked on another seven runs.
Sierra Hammond had a particularly strong day at the plate, collecting hits in all four of her at-bats and driving in four runs.
Aberdeen had three extra-base hits in the contest and head coach Scott Wilson said it was good to see his team do the little things right against Rochester (4-6, 7-7).
“We had some girls lay down some nice bunts to move runners along. We just played the game well and it was nice to see them execute when we needed them to execute, ” he said.
The Bobcats will be back home on Monday at 4:30 p.m. for a game against Black Hills.
Aberdeen 367 000 – 16 16 2
Rochester 330 00x – 6 7 6
WP – Jalyn McDaniel (5 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, K) LP – Kiyah Kennedy (4 IP, 7 H, 8 K, 3 ER)
Top Hitters: Aberdeen – Siearra Hammond (4-4, 2B 4 RBI),Brooklyn LeCompte (2-4, 2 RBI), Kacie Powell (2-4, 2B, 3B, RBI) Rochester – LaKota Escott (2 RBI, 3B), Callie Crawford (2 RBI)
Montesano 15, Tenino 3
A day after earning an emotional win over rival Elma the Montesano Bulldogs scored 12 runs over the final two innings to beat the Tenino Beavers 15-3 on Thursday in Tenino.
Up 3-0 in the top of the third, Montesano (10-3, 5-1 Evergreen 1A) saw its lead trimmed to one run when Tenino (3-10, 0-6) scored a pair of runs in the bottom half of the frame.
The Beavers tied the game with a run in the fourth of Montesano starter Lindsay Pace, but that’s as close as Tenino would get to the upset.
Powered by eight hits, including Matti Ekerson’s two-run home run, Monte scored seven runs in the fifth to retake the lead and provide Pace some breathing room.
The Bulldogs added another five runs in the sixth on RBI singles by Janessa Otterstetter, Jessica Stanfield, Kate Klinger and Lexi Lovell.
Pace picked up the win, allowing one earned run on seven hits with nine strikeouts.
Pace also had a solid day at the plate, going 2+for-2 with three runs scored and a home run.
Ekerson led Monte at the plate with a three-hit day, three runs scored and three RBI.
— Ryan Sparks, Grays Harbor News Group
Montesano 102 075 — 15 17 1
Tenino 002 100 — 3 7 0
WP — Pace (7 IP, 3 R, ER, 7 H, 9 K, 3 BB); LP — Emily Baxter (6 IP, 15 R, 14 ER, 17 H, 4 K, 3 BB)
Top Players: Ekerson (3-4, 2 R HR, 3 R, 3 RBI); Lovell (3-4, 2B, 2 R, RBI); Pace (2-3, HR, 3 R, RBI). Tenino — Bailey Greene (2-3, R)
Wishkah Valley 23, Oakville 5
Wishkah took advantage of 19 walks by Oakville pitchers en route to a 23-5 three-inning victory on Friday at Wishkah Valley High School.
Eight Loggerettes recorded a base hit in the ballgame, led by Averie Perron’s 2-for-2 game.
Erica Bomhoff picked up the win, throwing a hitless first inning.
Mackenzie Robertson and Perron each pitched an inning in relief. Robertson allowed two runs and struck out three whiel Perron gave up three runs with a strikeout.
— Ryan Sparks, Grays Harbor News Group
Oakville 023 — 5 0 4
Wishkah Valley (11)(12) —23 9 1
WP — Bomhoff (IP, 0 R, 0 H, K); LP — K. Martin (IP, 18 ER, 7 H, 14 BB)
Top Players: WV — Perron (2-2, 3 R, 2 RBI); Abbi Van Blaricom (1-3, 2B, 2 R, RBI)
Other Scores
Elma 7, Hoquiam 5
GIRLS PREP GOLF
Centralia 39, Aberdeen 25
Aberdeen fell short by a score of 39-25 in its match against Centralia at the Riverside Golf Course in Centralia on Friday.
Aberdeen got 13 points from Katie Lewis (Stableford scoring system) and 12 from Ryder Hekkila, but it wasn’t enough to pick up the road victory.
Aberdeen hosts Tumwater at 3:30 p.m. on Monday at the Grays Harbor Country Club.
— Ryan Sparks, Grays Harbor News Group
Centralia (39) — Tessa Smith 15, Lixi Erb 11, Lily Miller 6, Mazzi Nowicki 4, Jordan Blaettler 3, Karen Wu 1.
Aberdeen (25) — Lewis 13, Heikkila 12, Aliyah Lakner 0, Yareli Aparicio 0.
Montesano 198, Hoquiam 205
Montesano’s Mylaina Parker and Glory Grubb shot a sub-45 9-hole round to lead the Bulldogs to a 198-205 victory over Hoquiam on Thursday at Oaksridge Golf Course.
Parker shot the lowest round of the match with a 42, with Grubb coming in one shot behind her at 43.
Hoquiam was led by Bailey Smith and Brooke Bogconovich, who carded rounds of 49 and 50, respectively.
Monte moves to 4-3 overall and 4-1 in the 1A Evergreen League with the victory.
The loss was the first in leauge for the Grizzlies this season. Hoquiam (4-2, 4-1) is now tied with Montesano for the top spot in the league.
Monte faces Elma at 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday at Oaksridge.
Also on Tuesday, Hoquiam travels to Club Green Meadows in Vancouver for a 2;30 p.m. tee time against King’s Way Christian.
Montesano (198) — Mylaina Parker 42, Glory Grubb 43, Myah Gallinger 56, Iza Cope 57, McKenna Wecker 58, Baylie Farmer 64.
Hoquiam (205) — Bailey Smith 49, Brooke Bogdonovich 50, Katelyn Stevens 52, MaKenzie Buckley-Cheatum 54, Ainsley Estes 60, Jill Cobb 61.
PREP TENNIS
Tumwater 6, Aberdeen 0
Aberdeen was shutout again with a 6-0 loss to Tumwater on Thursday at Sam Benn Park in Aberdeen.
The Bobcats (0-9, 0-5 Evergreen 2A) will play its third match in three days with a home match against Black Hills on Friday at 3:30 p.m.
Singles: Kaley Hickey (Tumwater) defeated Kylie Knodel (Aberdeen) 6-1, 6-0; Courtney Borone (T) def. Chase Baller (A) 6-1, 6-0; Leann White (T) def. Isabel Rifenberg (A) 6-0, 6-1
Doubles: Sophia Koelsch/ Abby Bond (T) def. Abbie Bradt/Molly Scroggs (A) 6-0, 6-1; Josie Grimm/Ari Kee (T) def. Molly Scroggs/Alica Raygoza (A) 6-0, 6-0; Abby Jasper/ Hannah Kolb (T) def. Kylie Knodel/Kylie Ehly (A) 6-0, 6-0
