Chicago Cubs Hall-of-Famer Ernie Banks is known for his famous quote, “Let’s play two,” but it’s unlikely he had the kind of doubleheader that the Oak Harbor baseball team played on Saturday in mind.
Because of the wild weather that marked the beginning of the baseball season, the Wildcats hosted Cascade in a league game on Saturday and followed that with a non-league contest against Sehome afterwards. The Cats fell to the Bruins 7-5 in the first contest, but were able to rally for a 7-3 win against the Mariners.
“We’ve done it before,” said Wildcats head coach Jim Waller about the unique twinbill. “We’ve actually traveled to two different places on one day to get games in.”
The day almost saw a round-robin triple header. The game against Sehome was originally scheduled for Bellingham, but with the Mariners’ field under water it was moved to Oak Harbor. Sehome and Cascade were also scheduled to play a non-conference game last week but that was postponed as well.
“Sehome was desperate to get a game in so we moved it down here,” said Waller. “If I would have known that they were supposed to play Cascade before (Saturday) I would have offered to let them play each other here too.”
The Wildcats actually played three games in two days. They fell 9-7 at Cascade on Friday in their first league contest of the season. Oak Harbor held a lead in both league contests, but the Bruins rallied to pull out a pair of victories.
“We had a couple of heartbreakers,” said Waller about the two defeats. “Cascade came from behind in both games to win. We had one error in each game that was critical.”
Cascade jumped out to a 4-0 first-inning lead on Friday, before Oak Harbor rallied for five runs in the second and third innings to take the lead. The Cats then took a 7-5 lead in the top of the fifth before the Bruins scored four runs with two outs in the bottom of the inning. Cascade shut the door and held Oak Harbor scoreless in the last two innings.
Saturday’s game against the Bruins followed the same pattern. Cascade took an early 3-0 lead before the Cats exploded for five runs in the fourth inning.
Michael Curtain began the fourth inning rally with a one-out single. Senior Chris Cardinal then smacked his second double in two days, lifting a shot over the head of the Cascade centerfielder to score Curtain. The Bruin pitcher then walked the bases loaded and was lifted for a reliever. After a passed ball scored Cardinal, starting pitcher Anthony Martinez helped his own cause with a two-run single to put Oak Harbor ahead by one. The Cats added another run to take a 5-3 lead.
Cascade rallied to tie the game in the top of the sixth. After a leadoff double, a bunt single and then a delayed double-steal scored one run, Martinez got two fly outs. The Cats were almost out of the inning but a throwing error brought in the tying run.
“Unfortunately we had those errors,” said Waller. “If we make those plays they both might have been different games, but that’s just baseball.”
The Wildcats almost got the lead back in the bottom of the sixth. Martinez belted a two-out double that went to the right field fence. Senior John Gagnon was up next and he hit a long fly ball to center. The Cascade centerfielder lost the ball in the sun before making a last-second grab.
That would be the Cats’ best shot. The Bruins scored two runs in the seventh to take the lead and Oak Harbor went quietly in the bottom of the inning.
“It was disappointing that we didn’t win those games,” said Waller. “This team is more talented than people give us credit for and if we could have won one of those games against a tough league opponent, it would made people take notice.”
To the Wildcats’ credit they didn’t get down after the loss to Cascade, coming back to knock of Sehome 7-3 in the second game of the day. Despite just getting five hits, Oak Harbor used a bunch of walks and five Mariner errors to pick up the win.
“It was nice to see us come back against Sehome,” said Waller. “I talked to them after the game about not getting down and they came right out and got some runs.
“They’re unflappable – that is the major characteristic of this team. They came right back even though it was a non-league game.”
Junior Tom Moser earned the win after taking over on the mound in the third inning. Moser along with relievers Jon Goodwin and Dewayne Oxford allowed just one run the rest of the way. Senior James Medina went 2-for-2 at the plate and added an RBI .
The Wildcats have two games against a strong Marysville-Pilchuck (3-1 overall, 2-0 in league) team this week.
“This is a tough week. Marysville along with Mount Vernon appear to have the best teams in the league,” said Waller. “If we can get one of two I would be pretty happy.”
So far into the season Waller is pleased with how his squad is performing but there is room for improvement, especially when it comes to getting critical base hits.
“Offensively we have played well and our pitchers are doing okay,” he said. “We’re just not taking advantages of opportunities. We had the bases loaded in both Cascade games and didn’t come away with a run. We’re not getting the key hit right now.”
Cascade 9, Oak Harbor 7
At Cascade
Oak Harbor 032 020 0 – 7 8 1
Cascade 401 040 x – 9 13 3
Ryan Johnson, Oxford (5), and Prasser. Pugmire, McDonnell (3), Snow (6) and Rutter. WP-McDonnell (1-0). LP-Oxford . 2B-Prasser (OH), Cardinal (OH), Schroeder (Cas), Snow (Cas), McDonnell (Cas), Leon (Cas). 3B-Johnson (Cas), Snow (Cas). Records-Oak Harbor 0-1 in league, 1-2. Cascade 1-0, 2-0.
Cascade 7, Oak Harbor 5 (game one)
At Oak Harbor H.S.
Cascade 002 102 2 – 7 13 2
Oak Harbor 000 500 0 – 5 6 3
Martine, Schroeder (4), and McDonnell. Martinez, Gagnon (7) and Prasser. WP-Schroeder (1-0). LP-Martinez (0-1). 2B-Snow (Cascade), McDonnell (Cascade), Leon (Cascade), Martinez (Oak Harbor), Cardinal (Oak Harbor). Records-Cascade 2-0 in league, 3-0 overall. Oak Harbor 0-2, 1-3.
Oak Harbor 7, Sehome 3 (game two)
At Oak Harbor H.S.
Sehome 020 001 0 – 3 9 5
Oak Harbor 202 201 x – 7 5 2
Murphy, Walton (4), Mathews (6) and McBride, Osborn (5). Gagnon, Moser (3), Goodwin (5), Oxford (7) and Nekuda. WP-Moser (1-0). LP-Murphy (0-1). 2B-Monrean (Sehome), McKinley (Sehome). Records-Sehome 0-2 overall. Oak Harbor 2-3.
