Tightening its grip on the No.2 seed in the 3A district baseball tournament, Oak Harbor dumped Meadowdale 12-6 Tuesday, April 26, on the Mavericks’ diamond.
Oak Harbor (11-6-1, 8-4) now holds a two-game lead over Glacier Peak (7-9, 6-6) for the second seed into the district playoffs. The two teams finish-up the regular season against each other, Monday, May 2, in Snohomish and Tuesday in Oak Harbor.
One win by the Wildcats will wrap up the No. 2 seed. If the Grizzlies sweep, Oak Harbor could fall all the way to fifth.
After giving up nine unearned runs and collecting only four hits in a 12-2 loss to Meadowdale last Friday, Oak Harbor got back on track with a 15-hit, one-error win over the Mavericks Tuesday.
Yale Rosen led the way by going 2-for-3 with a double, home run and four RBI. Jay Stout and Josh Evans each went 3-for-4, Ryan Byrne was 2-for-4 with a double and two RBI and Justin Counts had two singles.
Oak Harbor wasted chances to pull away early by leaving the bases loaded in the first and second innings and scoring just one second-inning run.
In the third inning, however, the ‘Cats started to pull away. Stout singled and then Rosen, Evans and Byrne hit consecutive doubles to score three runs.
Oak Harbor tacked on four more in the fifth. Cory Cameron walked and Counts and Stout singled to load the bases. Gabe Clark singled in one run, then Rosen was robbed of a grand slam by a leaping catch at the center field fence. The deep sacrifice fly, however, allowed two runs to score. Evans followed with an RBI single.
Meadowdale scored three in the bottom of the fifth and one in the sixth to trim the gap to 8-5.
Oak Harbor sealed the win with a four-run seventh. Rosen led off with a home run. Evans singled, Byrne walked and Sam Glavick was intentionally walked. Jack Richter slashed a double to score two. A Cameron sacrifice fly and Counts’ single pushed in the final two runs.
Coach Tyson VanDam was pleased with how his team bounced back from Friday’s sloppy loss. He also praised Cameron, who was pressed into action with injuries to Sam Wolfe and Peter Franssen: “Cory had a great day — sacrifice bunt, sacrifice fly and a walk.”
