PREP BASEBALL
Montesano 4, Forks 2
Montesano clinched the 1A Evergreen League title with a 4-2 victory over the Forks Spartans on Monday in Forks.
Montesano (16-2 overall, 10-0 Evergreen 1A) was paced by starting pitcher Cyrus Parsons. The junior left-hander earned the victory by allowing no runs on just one hit while striking out five in his four innings of work.
The Bulldogs offense staked Parsons to a lead in the top of the fourth when Teegan Zillyett scored on Shaydon Farmer’ssqueeze bunt, giving Monte a 1-0 lead.
One batter later, Parsons helped himself out, driving in Evan Bates with a double to left field to extended the Bulldogs’ lead to 2-0.
In the top of the fifth, Monte doubled its lead when Braden Dohrmann and Zillyett came around to score on an error by Forks right fielder Carson Ness.
Monte reliever Jack Anderson took over for Parsons to start the bottom of the fifth and, after walking to first two batters of the inning, allowed two runs (one earned).
With the tying run on first base and two out, Anderson struck out Logan Urvina looking to prevent any further damage.
Cole Daniels earned the save for Monte, pitching a scoreless sixth and seventh innings to preserve the 4-2 victory.
Parsons led the way for Monte offensively, going 2-for-2 with a double and an RBI.
Carter Windle took the loss for Forks (6-10, 3-8), allowing four runs on four hits with 12 strikeouts in a complete-game performance.
With the win, Montesano has now won 11 straight.
Montesano hosts Elma at 5 p.m. on Wednesday.
Montesano 000 220 0 — 4 4 1
Forks 000 020 0 — 2 2 1
WP — Parsons (4 IP, 0 R, H, 5 K, 3 BB); LP — Windle (7 IP, 4 R, 2 ER, 4 H, 12 K, 3 BB); SV — Daniels (2 IP, 0 R, H, 2 K)
Top Players: Montesano — Parsons (2-2, 2B, RBI); Zillyett (0-0, 2 R, 3 BB); Bates (1-3, R); Dohrmann (1-2, R). Forks —Joseph Reaume (1-3), Carson Ness (1-3)
Montesano 6, Tenino 0
Montesano extended its winning streak to 10 games with a 6-0 victory over Tenino on Friday, April 26, in Montesano.
Montesano staring pitcher Ben Wills shut down Tenino with a complete-game performance. The junior hurler allowed just three hits while striking out six in the ballgame.
Though it didn’t have a big inning on Friday, Montesano scored at least one run in every inning but the second, highlighted by Payson Parker’s solo home run in the fifth inning.
Bulldogs infielder Teegan Zillyett went 3-for-4 with a double and three RBI.
Montesano’s Parker Plato went 2-for-4 with two runs.
With the victory, Montesano is now 2 1/2 games ahead of Hoquiam in the 1A Evergreen League standings with three games left to play.
— Ryan Sparks, Grays Harbor News Group
Tenino 000 000 0 — 0 3 1
Montesano 101 112 x — 6 11 2
WP — Wills (7 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 6 K, 2 BB); LP — Alex Bratton (6 IP, 6 ER, 11 H, 5 K, 3 BB)
Top Players: Montesano — Plato (2-4, 2 R); Teegan Zillyett (3-4, 2B, R, 2 RBI); Parker (1-2, HR, R, RBI).
Montesano 4, Hoquiam 3
Evan Bates pitched another gem against Hoquiam as the Bulldogs pulled out a close victory over the Grizzlies, winning 4-3 Thursday, April 25, in Hoquiam.
Bates used his off-speed pitches to keep batters off balance, striking out six batters in a complete-game performance.
Montesano head coach Mike Osgood said Bates and pitching coach Drew Maybe worked well together to limit Hoquiam’s offense.
“Coach Maybe had a great game plan for Evan and he executed really well. His curveball was probably his best pitch.” Osgood said. “These guys were really familiar with Evan since they played him last week, and he kept battling even when they hit him hard.”
Montesano’s Shaydon Farmer tosses the ball to pitcher Evan Bates as he comes over to cover first base in the third inning of a game against Hoquiam on Thursday. (Hasani Grayson | Grays Harbor News Group)
Before Bates even set foot on the mound, Bates hit a line-drive single up the middle that drove in Aaron Lano and Parker Plato to give Monte a 2-0 lead in the first.
The Bulldogs manufactured another run in the third inning. Teegan Zillyett got the offense started by working a walk against Hoquiam starter Zach Elsos.
Zillyett then stole second base and was driven home by Payson Parker, who hit a single up the middle to expand Monte’s lead to 3-0.
Hoquiam didn’t go down quietly and responded with a pair of runs in the bottom of the third.
Alex Reyes then grounded out to the right side of the infield, which allowed Camden Templer to score from third base.
Payton Quintanilla followed with an RBI double into the left-center field gap that plated Jackson Folkers and trimmed Monte’s lead to 3-2.
Hoquiam’s Payton Quintanilla launches a double into the left-centerfield gap in the fourth inning against Montesano. (Hasani Grayson | Grays Harbor News Group)
Hoquiam went to the bullpen in the top of the fourth and Michael Jump pitched the rest of the game for the Grizzlies.
Jump didn’t surrender any earned runs, but Hoquiam’s defense faltered in the fifth inning to allow the Bulldogs to score what proved to be the game-winning run. The fifth inning started out when catcher Troy McMinn lost a Plato pop up in the lights, allowing the ball to drop just in front of the dirt around the plate in fair territory. McMinn was challenged again defensively when a well-placed bunt from Bates down the third base line forced the catcher to make a difficult throw down to first base. Bates advanced to second on the throw while Plato advanced to third on the play.
Parker came up with another RBI in his next at-bat, hitting a sacrifice fly to center field to put the Bulldogs up 4-2.
Hoquiam picked up a run in the sixth on an RBI double from Liam Odell, but it would end up being the Grizzlies last hit of the game.
Bates retired five of the next six batters he faced to shut the door on any Hoquiam comeback attempt to secure the victory.
The win is Monte’s second one-run victory over Hoquiam this season and puts the Bulldogs three games up on the second-place Grizzlies with four games to play.
Montesano’s Parker Plato (5) celebrates with Braden Dohrmann (5) after scoring a run in a game against Hoiquiam on Thursday. (Hasani Grayson | Grays Harbor News Group)
Parker was happy to come away with the road victory and mentioned that tight ball games like this can wear on your nerves.
“It’s fun. It’s always a little nerve-racking with a close game. But we made good plays tonight and got enough runs to win the game,” he said.
Due to their weather-altered schedule, Montesano will play four games in eight days including a home game against Tenino at 5 p.m. on Friday.
Osgood said he trusts his pitching staff and the rest of his roster to handle the workload without any major issues.
“With baseball, sometimes it’s better to play games than to practice,” he said. “We have enough arms that I would play everyday of the week if we could. The big thing is going out there and battling.”
Hoquiam has two games left on its schedule and is out of the league-title picture with Thursday’s loss.
Inclement weather also played havoc with Hoquiam’s schedule as the Grizzlies came into the Monte game on the back end of a double header. Hoquiam got a 12-0 victory over Forks earlier that day in what ended up being a five inning affair.
Hoquiam coach Steve Jump said he would have liked to stay within striking distance by sweeping the doubleheader, but still feels as if his team is picking up momentum with the postseason fast approaching.
“We’re disappointed with the loss, but we’re really excited about where we’re at. We’re playing good baseball right now, and we’re peaking at the right time,” he said. “We have a lot of kids hitting the ball well, and I was very impressed with Michael’s pitching.”
Montesano 201 010 0 – 4 4 1
Hoquiam 002 001 0 – 3 8 1
WP – Bates (CG, 3 ER, 8 H, 6 K); LP – Elsos (3 IP, 3 ER, 3 K, 3 BB)
Top Hitters: Montesano – Bates (2-3, 2 RBI), Parker (1-2, 2 RBI, BB); Hoquiam – Odell (2-3, RBI, 2B), Quintanilla (RBI, 2B)
Hoquiam 5, Elma 2
A costly error broke a tie ballgame and helped the Hoquiam Grizzlies to an extra-inning victory over the Eagles on Monday in Elma.
Tied 3-3 in the top of the ninth inning, Hoquiam (12-6, 8-3 Evergreen 1A) scored a pair of two-out runs on an error by Elma first baseman Justin Elliott, giving the Grizzlies a 5-3 lead.
Hoquiam reliever Jackson Folkers then got three straight fly outs with the tying run at the plate to end the game.
The Grizzlies originally took a 2-0 lead with a run in each of the first two innings and a 3-0 lead when Troy McMinn scored on a wild pitch in the fifth.
But Elma (4-13, 1-9) didn’t go quietly, scoring a run in the bottom of the fifth on Brody Rustemeyer’s RBI single.
The Eagles tied the game an inning later on Brady Johnston’s double that scored Carter Jacobson and Raiden Aho to tie the game at 3-3.
Folkers picked up the win, allowing no runs on two hits with three strikeouts in 3 2/3 innings pitched.
McMinn paced Hoquiam’s offense with a 2-for-3 day at the plate, an RBI and two runs scored.
Brady Shriver went 3-for-5 with a run scored to lead Elma.
Hoquiam 110 010 002 — 5 5 3
Elma 000 012 000 3 8 8
WP — Folkers (3.2 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 3 K); LP — Shriver (4 IP, 2 R, 0 ER, 0 H, 4 K, 3 BB)
Top Players: Hoquiam — McMinn (2-3, 2 R, RBI); Alex Reyes (1-5, 2 R). Elma — Shriver (3-5, R); Johnston (1-3, 2B, 2 RBI)
Hoquiam 4, Elma 2
Hoquiam scored early and relied on a strong outing from pitcher Kyle Larsen to pick up the 4-2 home win over Elma on Tuesday, April 23, at Olympic Stadium in Hoquiam.
The Grizzlies got six innings from Larsen as the hurler scattered four hits without surrendering an earned run.
Payton Quintanilla provided a key run in third inning when he hit a line-drive home run over the center-field wall to give Hoquiam a 3-2 lead in the bottom of third.
Larsen helped out his own cause in the fifth inning with an RBI single up the middle that drove in Justin Folkers to provide an insurance run.
Elma got its runs with the help of Hoquiam errors in the first and third innings that allowed Brady Shriver and Tysen Richardson to put tallies on the board for the Eagles.
Elma 101 000 0 – 2 5 2
Hoquiam 201 010 x – 4 10 4
WP – Larsen (6 IP, 0 ER, 5 K, 4 H); LP – Shriver (6 IP, 3 ER, 10 H, 4 K)
Top Hitters: Hoquiam – Quintanilla (2-3, 2 RBI, HR) , Larsen (2-3, 2 RBI); Elma – Shriver (2-4, R)
Montesano’s Teegan Zillyet, right, beats the tag from Hoquiam’s Jackson Folkers and steals second base in the fourth inning on Thursday. (Hasani Grayson | Grays Harbor News Group)
