North Whidbey reaches title game; CWLL wins | 9/10 baseball

The North and Central Whidbey 9/10 baseball teams both won close games Tuesday, July1, to advance in the District 11 tournament in Sedro-Woolley.

By Jim Waller • July 2, 2014 4:31 pm
North Whidbey's Stuart Bassett
North Whidbey's Stuart Bassett

The North and Central Whidbey 9/10 baseball teams both won close games Tuesday, July1, to advance in the  District 11 tournament in Sedro-Woolley.

North Whidbey registered its third consecutive one-run win, this time topping Burlington 3-2 and advancing to the championship series.

Central Whidbey knocked Sedro-Woolley out of the tournament 3-1 and will take on Burlington in a loser-out game at 6 p.m. Wednesday. That winner will earn a spot in the finals and will have to beat North Whidbey twice to take the title.

The first championship game is set for 6 p.m. Thursday; the second, if necessary, will be 11 a.m. Saturday.

In North Whidbey’s win over Burlington, the Cardiac Kids plated the winning run in the bottom of the fifth inning, then Colton Byars and Cody Duchnowski combined to strike out the side in the top of the sixth to lock up the win.

Burlington opened the scoring by pushing across a run in the first inning. North Whidbey came right back with a pair of runs in its half. With two outs, Byars walked and Shawn Day singled and they worked their way around on stolen bases, errors and wild pitches.

Both teams failed to score again until the fifth.

Burlington tied it in the top half, then Joe Winnenberg led off the bottom half with a walk. Pinch runner Brock Boyer eventually scored on a wild pitch.

Byars pitched from the second inning through one out in the sixth, striking out eight. Duchnowski earned the save by fanning the two hitters he faced.

Byars also finished with two hits.

In the Central Whidbey game, CWLL scored first in the bottom of the second inning when Ty Hamilton, who walked, was singled in by Scott Hilborn.

Sedro-Woolley scored  in the top of the third inning on an inside-the-park home run.

Central Whidbey quickly responded with a run in its half. Hawthorne Wolfe singled and scored on Cody Roberts’ double.

A double by Hilborn and a single by Wolfe helped Central Whidbey plate Drake Borden with an insurance run in the fourth.

Wolfe pitched the first four innings, striking out 10 and walking none.

Luke Vrable finished the game, including striking out the side in 13 pitches in the sixth.

Hilborn and Wolfe led the offense with two hits each.

(Central Whidbey’s Hawthorne Wolfe lets a pitch fly in the win over Sedro-Woolley. Jim Waller photo.