The South Kitsap High School baseball team has played the underdog role all the way to the first round of the Class 4A state tournament.
South (15-5) lost its two top starters before the season when one player was lost to academic ineligibility and another, Collin Monagle, who since has returned as a reliever, was sidelined with shoulder problems.
“At the beginning, we weren’t expected to win and come this far,” said Adam Douty, a senior who will start for the Wolves today.
That pitch might not work as well against Bothell at 10 a.m. today at Kent Memorial. That’s because Wolves coach Jim Fairweather believes the Cougars are similar to his team.
“I would like these guys to think of them as us,” he said. “You know this team because they’re just like us. We’re so evenly matched, those little intangibles are going to be the difference.”
He said Bothell (16-7), which plays in KingCo 4A, also is strong on the mound and in the field.
The Cougars aren’t bad at the plate, either. They scored 171 runs this season — 7.43 per game.
In a game against Woodinville, a traditional KingCo 4A power, the Cougars won 16-0 on March 17.
Ian McKay shut out the Falcons for five innings and also went 3 for 4 with a double and a home run.
In a tiebreaker game to advance to the league tournament, Bothell beat Juanita 14-2 and McKay went 2 for 5 with a three-run homer.
The Wolves’ offense might be even better. They scored 184 runs during the season for an average of 9.2 runs per game.
That includes two games where Washington State University-bound left-hander Adam Conley shut them out for Olympia.
South has scored at least 10 runs in 11 games this season and has won all of them, including a 12-1 win last Saturday against Stadium that advanced the Wolves to state for the second time in three years.
“I would love for us to come out and hit the ball like we did against Stadium,” Fairweather said. “They come out and throw a pretty good guy, but we rock him because we know we can.”
Patience at the plate might determine how South fares against the Cougars. In a 8-1 loss against Puyallup in last Saturday’s West Central District Tournament opener, the Wolves walked just once against Adam Cimber, a University of Washington commit.
Against Stadium, they drew eight walks.
“Against unknown opponents, we kind of feel them out a little bit and then we decide if we can thump on them,” Fairweather said. “When we know who they are, we just come right after them.”
He notes that some players who hit near the bottom of the lineup, such as outfielders Chris Sizemore and Shawn Stayton, have on-base percentages around .500.
“We just feel like it’s OK if you walk because the guy behind you is going to do his job and get you in,” Fairweather said. “You go throughout our lineup and we have danger.”
If the Wolves win the opener, they play the winner of the Battle Ground vs. Kentlake game at 4 p.m. A victory in that game would send them to the May 23 state semifinals at Safeco Field.
“Edgar, Griffey and A-Rod,” said South catcher Todd Dalrymple, citing a trio of former all-star Mariners he grew up watching at Safeco. “I want to be there.”
