The Oak Harbor Legion A baseball team grabbed wins in the first two rounds of the state tournament at North Thurston High School in Lacey this weekend to catapult into the quarterfinals.
The Wildcats and Woodinville are the only two teams still unbeaten in the eight-team tournament and will meet at 6 p.m. Monday, Aug. 1.
Oak Harbor opened play Saturday with an 8-2 win over the Coeur d’Alene Lumberjacks, then won a wild one 8-7 over Mount Spokane Sunday.
In the win over the Lumberjacks, Ben Etzell rapped four hits and pitched the final four outs to lead Oak Harbor.
Starting pitcher Zach Zimmer limited the Lumberjacks to one earned run and four hits and struck out seven in five-and-two-thirds innings.
Down 1-0 after the first inning, Oak Harbor scored in five of the next six innings to pull away.
A walk, error and hits by Austyn Walker and Cory Cameron helped the Wildcats score two in the top of the second.
In the third, a single by Etzell and a double by Jack Richter led to two runs.
Etzell started the fifth with a single and eventually scored on Zimmer’s base hit.
Cameron, Anthony Stewart and Grant Schroeder loaded the bases with singles in the sixth, then Etzell singled in two runs.
Stewart’s double in the seventh finished the scoring.
The win over Mount Spokane was a roller coaster ride for the Wildcats. Oak Harbor jumped to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first, then Mount Spokane tied it with a three-run second.
The ‘Cats added a run in the third for a 4-3 lead, then Mount Spokane pushed across four in the fourth to go up 7-4.
Oak Harbor put up its on four spot in the fifth then hung on for the win.
In the three-run first, Schroeder led of with a single, stole second and scored on Richter’s base hit.
Zimmer walked, then with two outs, Andrew Snavely singled in one run and Cameron another.
Singles by Walker and Maletto produced a run in the third.
Singles by Snavely, David Kusnick, Schroeder and Etzell highlighted the four-run, fifth-inning rally.
Starting pitcher Richter got out of a two-on, one-out jam in the sixth, then Etzell pitched the seventh for the save.
All nine Oak Harbor starters picked up at least one hit, with Schroeder and Snavely getting two each.
