The Oak Harbor Wildcats Legion A team didn’t play the agreeable host last weekend as they won three of four games to take second place out of 10 teams in their very own Oak Harbor Classic.
The Wildcats won their first three games of the tournament before being edged by the West Seattle Reds squad 5-4 in the championship game on Sunday.
“I think that the tournament went over real good,” said Wildcats head coach Bret Fritch. “We had great weather, there were no complaints and everyone enjoyed themselves – hopefully they will want to come back next year.
The Wildcats’ first game of the tourney was on Friday against Burlington at the Oak Harbor High School field. The squads were deadlocked at 4-4 after four innings before the Cats exploded for six runs in the sixth inning on their way to a 14-4 victory.
“We opened it up late in the game after we started hitting the ball,” Fritch said.
Camden Schutte picked up the victory, and Matt Lambert smacked a two-out double in the second inning for an RBI.
The next day the Wildcats edged the West Seattle Dodgers 9-8 in a contest played at Clover Valley Field. Kyle Isaacson got the Cats off on the right foot by leading the game off with a home run. Later in the contest with the score tied 7-7, Dan Raymond belted a two-run homer for the winning runs. The Wildcats gave up one more run, but held on for a 9-8 victory. Josh Fritch was the winning pitcher.
Sunday morning the Cats blasted a squad from Sammammish 20-2. Among the hitting highlights was a solo homer by Jake Jansen. James Blunk earned the win.
“We beat them up pretty hard,” Fritch said. “Everyone hit the ball and it’s hard to pick anyone out. We put three different guys on the mound and they all pitched well.”
Later on Sunday the Wildcats took on the Reds in the title game. Oak Harbor jumped out to a 3-0 first inning advantage but the West Seattle team chipped away at the lead. The Reds scored single runs in the first and the second before putting three up on the board. Down 5-3 in the seventh, the Wildcats scored one to make it 5-4 but they couldn’t get the equalizer on the board.
“It was a tight ball game,” Fritch said. “Both teams pitched well and it was a good defensive game by both teams. (Shortstop) Travis Smith made a couple of great defensive plays for us. We just couldn’t get anyone else across the plate in the seventh.”
With the 3-1 weekend, the Oak Harbor squad improved to 14-5 on the season. The team is scheduled to play around 45 games this spring and summer.
“We’re doing well,” Fritch said about the season. “The kids are learning and we’re getting some pitchers trained for the high school team next year.”
