BREMERTON — In a pitcher’s duel featuring the league’s two best throwers — North’s Heather Case and Wilson’s Amanda Palley — the Narrows’ League Championship game could have gone either way.
But as a Wilson bloop single dropped into left field Friday in the bottom of the ninth inning, it was the Rams who had come through with the Narrows’ top honors.
One break for one victory.
“We could have easily won had we gotten the breaks,” said Vikings’ coach Dan Kolda. “Both teams did an excellent job in setting up (scoring) situations. They just got the hit.”
That hit came off the bat of the Rams’ Palley, who pulled the ball off a Case pitch into left field to score Wilson’s lead base runner. Palley was the Rams’ hero on both sides of play, going 3-5 and for 2 RBIs at the plate as well as pitching a complete game holding North to just two runs. At the No. 2 spot in Wilson’s order, she was in the midst of the most dangerous part of the team’s line-up.
“(North Kitsap) just got to the wrong part of the order at the wrong time,” said Wilson coach Jim Minniti.
Coach Kolda saw the game as more positive than negative, however, describing the nine-inning affair as solid preparation for the challenge ahead.
“The positive thing is that we can play with them,” Kolda said. “This is the best team we’ve played. The real season starts Friday (afternoon).”
North Kitsap will face South Puget Sound’s No. 6 team, Kentlake Friday in Tacoma.
Last Friday, Wilson wasted no time out of the gates in breaking open the scoring, with Palley slipping a single through shortstop Rachel Kramer’s defenses and scoring Rams’ lead-off hitter Christel Neal.
North, behind pitcher Case, settled into a groove that held Wilson scoreless until the sixth inning. The Vikings would strike twice for runs, the first time in the fifth inning off a Katy Johnson single to score Kramer. In the sixth, the Vikings picked up the second run off a Lisa Gilbert single which sent Brenda Stice home.
Wilson struck back in the bottom of the sixth, with Heather Minniti blasting a double to the gap in right field for a RBI.
Extra effort got North Kitsap on base on more than one occasion. Three players — Coreena Stout, Lisa Gilbert and Kramer — ran out throws to first on ground balls. Defensively the Vikes made some stellar plays, with NK first baseman Sarah Bagala diving for a catch in the eighth inning in the shallow infield to stop a run from scoring. NK also got the lead runner out in the same inning when catcher Melody Griffin threw to third baseman Jamie Heins to tag a sliding Heather Spooner.
North Kitsap (18-4) will face Kentlake 1 p.m. Friday at Tacoma’s Sprinker Fields.
