TACOMA — There are no easy games left and the Central Kitsap baseball team knows it.

After falling 4-3 to Stadium on Saturday in the third/fourth-place game in the Narrows League Tournament, just a day removed from an emotional 6-4 come-from-behind win against Gig Harbor in a loser-out game, the Cougars know they won’t get any more second chances.

“Always when you lose you realize things you need to work on,” junior starter Casey Bohlmann said. “From now on out, we can’t lose. We have to really step it up.”

While Saturday’s loss at Heidelberg Park was little more than a formality — the difference between the No. 3 seed and the No. 4 seed is fairly negligible — Bohlmann said it was still a game CK (17-6) wanted to win, having already split with Stadium (13-6) during the regular season, falling on April 16 5-3 but blowing out the Tigers 14-0 on April 18.

“You always want to win,” CK coach Bill Baxter said. “That was a hard-fought game. We made a mistake and they scored off us. That’s what happened.”

The Cougars went up early, building a 3-1 lead for Bohlmann by playing small ball, moving key runners over and picking up big base hits with runners in scoring position.

Stadium actually struck first when shortstop Jay Skilton led off with a double. A sacrifice fly moved him over to third and another brought him home for a 1-0 Tigers lead.

CK responded in the bottom of the first however, with senior designated hitter Glen Hewey drawing a walk and stealing second base before a sac grounder by Daniel Zylstra moved him to third. That allowed right fielder Drew Vettleson to pick up an RBI on the next at-bat, reaching first on a fielder’s choice.

In the second it was more of the same. After Bohlmann settled down, striking out two of three batters in the frame, CK’s Howard McDonald smashed a double to deep left that almost left the yard. McDonald, the hero in Friday’s win, then scored on an RBI single from catcher Cole Adams, putting the Cougs up 2-1.

CK added another in the third when Bohlmann helped his own cause by driving in Zylstra with a third-inning single. That put CK up 3-1.

However, that’s when Stadium began inching back in, scoring single runs in the top of the fourth and fifth innings to tie things back up at 3-3. Stadium scored again in the top of the seventh — Bohlmann finished with a complete game for the Cougars — before CK ran out of steam.

“It was a bit of a relief (Friday) to clinch a spot,” Bohlmann said. “But we really wanted to get that (No. 3) seed instead of the (No. 4) seed.”

The difference is small, as the Cougars will take on Jefferson (14-6), the No. 6 seed out of the South Puget Sound League. Stadium will battle Curtis (11-7), the No. 7. In fact, the top seven SPSL teams finished within five games of one another.

That made Friday’s win the sweetest for CK, locking up another district berth.

“It takes a lot of pressure off you,” he said of the win. “I don’t know if a seeding of three or four is necessarily a lot different. At this level, you’re gonna have to go to work anyway.”

In Friday’s win, CK trailed Gig Harbor 4-3 heading into the top of the seventh inning. McDonald capped scoring with what would be the game-winning two-run single in CK’s 6-4 win.

“To start the seventh inning off like that and put across three runs to put us up and shut them down from there, it was just nice to clinch that spot,” Bohlmann said.

While CK made small mistakes in both games, Baxter said he was pleased with the effort his team gave.

“(Friday) we made a couple mistakes too and we bounced back from ’em,” he said. “But we’ve got to understand that at this level, we can’t do that. But I know my kids will battle. They work hard.”

CK plays Jefferson at 2 p.m. Saturday at Kent Memorial Field. If the Cougars win, they’ll play again at 5 p.m. against the loser between Kentlake, the SPSL champ, and Beamer, the SPSL No. 4 seed. That game also is at Kent Memorial Field. The winner will be the No. 4 seed to state while the loser will see their season end.

“Just be ready to do, play hard, keep doing what you’re doing,” Baxter said he’ll tell his team in preparation for the game.