LACEY — The Olympic League dominated the first day of the 2A West Central District III tournament.

North Kitsap and Olympic, along with rivals Port Angeles and Sequim, all advanced to the district semifinals and clinched berths in the 2A state tournament. The Olympic League will claim the top four seeds out of the district.

Olympic will face Sequim and North Kitsap takes on Port Angeles at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Regional Athletic Complex. The two winners will play for the district championship at 5 p.m. and the losers will play for the No. 3 and 4 seeds.

The Vikings, the Olympic League champions, had little trouble in their first game of the postseason, walloping Orting 17-2 in a four-inning mercy rule game.

Cleanup hitter and third baseman Mackenzie Wagner had a breakout game, belting a first inning home run to left and finishing the day 4 for 4 with five RBI.

Sarah Smith was only needed for four innings, and had to deal with her team taking long turns at bat, but she struck out five hits and gave up just two hits and two runs. Smith also went 3 for 4 at the plate and drove in two runs.

North Kitsap batted around in its nine-run second inning that featured a two-run single by Wagner, and RBI-base hits from Samantha Burgh and Iyreland Lawson.

The win was a good tune up for Saturday’s rubber match with Port Angeles. The two teams split their two regular season games, but this will be the biggest matchup of the year with a trip to the district championship game on the line.

“They’re a great team, we like playing them,” head coach Jamie Smaaladen said. “They’re tough.”

North Kitsap 17, Orting 2

OR 2 0 0 0 — 2 2 5

NK 3 9 2 3 — 17 14 0

WP: Smith LP: Hand

Pitching

Orting — Hand 1.2 IP, 6 H, 12 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 2 K; White 2 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 5 ER, BB.

North Kitsap — Smith 4 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K.

Hitting

Orting — Moore 1-2, HR, 2 RBI, R; Nasinec 1-1; Halte 0-1, BB, R.

North Kitsap — Wagner 4-4, 2B, HR, 5 RBI, 3 R; Burgh 1-3, 2 RBI, BB, R; Smith 3-4, 2 RBI, 2 R; Villiard 1-4, 2B, RBI, 3 R; Lawson 2-4, 3 R, SB; Hoffman 1-1, RBI, 2 BB, 2 R; Keller 1-3, RBI, R; Goetz 0-2, RBI, 2 BB, 2 R; Stockman 1-4, RBI; Thomas 0-1, RBI.

Trojans knock off White River, Lindbergh to reach the state tournament

Olympic scored a tremendous come-from-behind victory in its district opener against White River and then dominated Lindbergh in the quarterfinals to guarantee its own place in the state tournament.

Morgan Kroesser had a little trouble with White River slugger Peyton Wallen, who hit two home runs and drove in five, but the junior right-hander was otherwise sharp.

The Trojans began their march to victory in the fifth inning when they scored four runs to tie the game. After Allannah Mitchell reached on an error, Vanisa Ivie doubled to right field to score Mitchell. Ivie then aggressively took third and home on the overthrow to cut her team’s deficit to 5-3.

Molly Gates followed with a one-out double and moved up to third on a groundout. Elisa Turnquist walked and then the two executed a double steal. Turnquist reached second safely and Gates swiped home. Riley Burdyshaw then blasted an RBI-single to tie the game at 5.

Wallen’s second home run of the game put White River back ahead 6-5, but Ivie’s RBI-triple in the sixth tied the game at 6. Richmond then hit a sacrifice fly to put Olympic ahead.

“I knew we had great potential to make a good playoff run with the bats we have,” Olympic head coach Jessica Cabato said.

Against Lindbergh, Sadie Chipley gave the Trojans a 1-0 lead they held all the way to the fifth inning when Lindbergh tied the game on Katherine Back’s RBI-double.

But from there on Kroesser was dominant in the circle. She struck out ten hitters and gave up just three hits and one earned run in seven innings.

Elisa Turnquist scored the go-ahead run in the sixth on a Lindbergh error and Olympic tacked on six more in the seventh. Gates had an RBI-double and Burdyshaw and Zionna Thomas both chipped in run-scoring singles.

The Trojans seemed like they might be heading for a rebuilding season in what turned out to be a very tough Olympic League, but after fighting through some tough times and early season injuries, the team seems to be coming together at the right time.

“The adversity helped us,” Cabato said. “It made us stronger for this moment here.”

Olympic 7, White River 6

Oly 1 0 0 0 4 2 0 — 7 7 1

WR 2 1 2 0 1 0 0 — 6 8 3

WP: Kroesser LP: Bartels

Pitching

Olympic — Kroesser 7 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 4 K

White River — Bartels 7 IP, 7 H, 7 R, 5 ER, 4 BB, 12 K.

Hitting

Olympic — Ivie 2-4, 2B, 3B, 3 RBI, 2 R; Gates 2-3, 2 2B, R, SB; Richmond 1-2, RBI, R; Turnquist 1-2, BB, R, 2 SB; Burdyshaw 1-4, RBI.

White River — Wallen 3-3, 2B, 2 HR, 5 RBI, BB, 2 R; Dolson 2-4, RBI, R; Mills 1-3, R; Bartels 1-3; Montoya 1-3.

Olympic 8, Lindbergh 1

Oly 1 0 0 0 0 1 6 — 8 12 0

LB 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 — 1 3 5

WP: Kroesser LP: Evans

Pitching

Olympic — Kroesser 7 IP, 3 H, R, ER, 10 K.

Lindbergh — Evans 7 IP, 12 H, 8 R, 5 ER, 4 BB, 7 K.

Hitting

Olympic — Gates 3-4, 2B, 3B, RBI, R, 2 SB; Chipley 1-3, 2B, RBI, BB, R; Burdyshaw 2-3, RBI, BB, R; Thomas 2-4; Ivie 1-5, R; Turnquist 1-3, BB, R.

Lindbergh — Back 1-2, 2B, RBI; Kahikina 1-2, R; Callies 1-3, SB.

4A West Central Southwest bi-district tournament to begin Saturday

South Kitsap has to wait one more day to get its postseason run going. This week’s rain caused its district tournament at the Kent Service Club Ballfields to be postponed until Saturday.

The Wolves’ schedule remains the same; they begin play Saturday at 4:30 p.m. at Kentwood and will have a 7 p.m. game win or lose. The games originally scheduled for Saturday will be played Sunday all at the same times.

Morgan Kroesser struck out ten hitters and gave up just three hits and one earned run as Olympic defeated Lindbergh 8-1 to clinch a 2A state playoff berth. (Mark Krulish/Kitsap News Group)