ANACORTES—An amazing season came to an abrupt and controversial end for the Oak Harbor Junior Legion AA team in a 3-2 loss to Anacortes at the state tournament Monday afternoon.

Down 3-1, with two outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh and final inning, the Wildcats needed a clutch hit to keep their season alive. Dan Raymond provided Oak Harbor with just what they needed, driving a hard single up the middle on an 0-2 pitch count. Raymond’s shot scored John Lobbestael from third base and was thought to have scored pinch runner Erik Sinks from second for the tying run.

“I thought ah no problem, the runner scored,” head coach Jim Waller said.

While Sinks was crossing the plate, base runner Matt Lambert was avoiding the tag between second and third base.

Despite arguments that Sinks scored the run before Lambert was tagged out, the umpire ruled Sinks had stopped to pick up the bat before he crossed home plate.

“It’s a rough way to end the season,” Waller said.

Oak Harbor carried a 1-0 lead into the sixth inning, when they suddenly had a tough time making routine plays.

“We just broke down defensively in that sixth inning,” Waller said. “Other than that one inning we had a great game defensively.”

The team committed two errors in the inning, allowing Anacortes to score all three of their runs.

The offense also had a hard time getting going for the Cats, who only had four hits for the game.

Although it was a rough way to end the season, Waller is extremely proud of what the team was able to accomplish in winning the district title and making it to state for the first time ever in Legion baseball.

“The kids had a great year,” Waller said. “I’m not disappointed in our year at all.”

Oak Harbor 9, Lewis & Clark 2

There didn’t appear to be many nerves for Oak Harbor in the programs’ first ever appearance in the state tournament Saturday afternoon.

“We wanted to jump on them early,” head coach Jim Waller said.

The Wildcats did exactly that, as they pounced on Lewis and Clark of Spokane in the first three innings and never let up en route to a 9-2 victory.

Third baseman Scott Donnell got the Oak Harbor offense moving with an RBI single in the bottom of the first inning. Donnell contributed to the next run after getting caught in a run-down between first and second base. Donnell managed to avoid the tag long enough for Lobbestael to sneak in from third base.

The Cats scored on a similar play in the bottom of the second inning, when Camden Schutte stole home after Matt Badger nabbed second base.

The early pressure was key to Oak Harbor’s success.

“That was real demoralizing,” Waller said. “We forced them to make plays and they had trouble doing that.”

Josh Fritch picked up the win for the Cats, keeping Lewis and Clark off balance with his curveball and changeup.

“Those were the two pitches I threw the most often and they worked really well,” Fritch said.

Jake Jansen, Kyle Issacson, Bryce Waller, Lobbestael and Raymond each received RBI hits to add onto the score later in the contest.

Play it again 6, Oak Harbor 3

Oak Harbor fell behind early to Play It Again Sports of Longview on Sunday and could not recover, as they picked up their first loss of the tournament 6-3.

Play It Again converted two infield hits and three walks into three runs in the fifth inning off of pitcher Erik Sinks.

“There was a couple of times if we would have made the plays we probably would have saved a few runs and made it a closer ball game,” Waller said.

Bryce Waller pulled the Cats to within one in the second inning on an RBI single, but that’s as close as they would get. Issacson and Jansen picked up the other two RBI.