The Oak Harbor Legion AA baseball team booted away a chance for the North Division title when it fell at Burlington 12-11 Monday, July 12.
Had it won, Oak Harbor (8-4) could have shared the division crown with Burlington (10-2) and earned the No. 1 seed heading into this weekend’s district tournament.
But the Wildcats committed eight errors and allowed nine unearned runs in the loss to the Sox. Burlington committed only one error and all of Oak Harbor’s runs were earned.
Sam Glavick erased an early 1-0 Burlington lead with a two-run home run in the second inning, driving in Josh Evans who had singled.
Oak Harbor went up 4-2 in the third when Yale Rosen also hit a two-run home run ahead of Jay Stout’s bloop double.
Burlington scored three in the bottom of the third to go up 5-4.
Sam Wolfe was hit by a pitch and scored on Rosen’s single in the fourth, but Burlington tacked on three more in its half of the inning to take an 8-5 lead.
Oak Harbor exploded for six in the fifth. Gabe Clark singled, Josh Evans and Ryan Byrne walked and Jack Richter hit a sacrifice fly for the first run. After an out, Spencer McBride was hit by a pitch to reload the bases.
Wolfe forced in one run with a walk, then Stout singled in two more. Wolfe scored on a wild pitch and Rosen singled in Stout with the sixth run.
That was it for the Oak Harbor scoring as Burlington scored two in the fifth and sixth to win it.
The ‘Cats were hurt by an odd call in the fifth. McBride made a nice catch in left field but the umpire inexplicably called it a “no catch.” That allowed a run to score which eventually was the difference in the game.
Oak Harbor finishes up the regular season with two nonleague double headers. It goes to Mount Vernon tonight, July 13, at 5:30, then hosts Ferndale tomorrow at 3:30.
The final seedings for the district tournament have not been set, but Oak Harbor is most likely going to be the No. 3 seed and play the No. 6 seed at 6:30 p.m. Friday, July 16, at the Skagit Valley Dream Field in Mount Vernon.
The Oak Harbor Legion A team opens tournament play Thursday, July 15, at 1 p.m. at Mount Vernon’s Sherman Anderson Park.
