KINGSTON — Baseball bats are starting to catch fire in Kingston.
The Kingston High Buccaneers (6-2 overall) have tallied 19 runs in the past two games combined, after putting up just 22 points in the first six games of the season. The Bucs defeated Sequim High 7-1 on Wednesday after putting up their highest score of the season Tuesday in a 12-1 rout of Klahowya.
“I think we have the potential of being a real strong hitting team, a team that can put some runs on the board,” Kingston coach Scott McKay said. “We just hadn’t been doing that until this week.”
Defense showed up alongside the Buccaneer bats in Wednesday’s win. Kingston pitcher Nick Torento, a junior, started the game by hitting Sequim’s first batter in the arm but went on to pitch five hitless innings. He completed the game allowing just four hits.
“After the fifth inning,” Torento said, “I kind of got up there and started thinking a little bit and noticed I got a no-hitter, so I decided not to talk to anybody in the dugout. I didn’t want to jinx myself, but it ended up not working out so well.”
Torento, who transfered from North Kitsap High this year, missed a couple of practices earlier in the week due to illness.
“You kind of always wonder when a kid’s away for a few days what’s going to happen,” McKay said. “To come out and really shut them down, I don’t know if I’d call that surprising, but I was, I guess, real pleased at how well he threw and how well he controlled the game.”
Torento also struck out seven batters in the win. Sequim’s Alex Gillis had six strikeouts.
Danny Orr led Kingston on the offensive side, going 3-for-3 with one walk. Rico LeMay was 2-for-4 with three RBI.
Torento allowed just one hit in the sixth inning, but got into some trouble in the seventh, loading the bases twice.
“I had a big lead, so I wasn’t too worried about losing the lead,” he said. “I was kind of worried about the one-hitter going in there, and then I just let it go and got out of it.”
McKay congratulated his team for bringing the offensive and defensive sides of the game together for the win. The Bucs struggled last week in a 4-0 loss to North Mason.
“Pitching has been consistent, and our defense has been building,” McKay said. “To get Klahowya yesterday and (Sequim) today is a good way to come back.”
