AUBURN — A wild pitch led to a walk-off win by Federal Way over South Kitsap’s prep baseball team May 8, which missed a golden opportunity to cruise into the state tournament.
The bats went quiet after the first two innings and a couple of mistakes ended up costing the Wolves dearly.
A win over the Eagles would have been all the Wolves needed to qualify. But instead, their next game is under a loser-out scenario against Olympia on May 9, which took place after the Port Orchard Independent’s press deadline.
“We have to get rid of this one,” South Kitsap head coach Marcus Logue said.
“It’s a longer ride. You still have the chance, but now it puts it in the perspective that you have to take it day by day. You can’t look past anyone and it’s really just playing the game in front of you rather than thinking big picture.”
The Wolves roughed up Federal Way starter Garret Morris for four runs. Torre DiGiovanni and P.J. Moritz struck RBI singles in the top of the first inning. DiGiovanni drove in another run in the second inning, as did Jacob Duarte, but the well ran dry after that. Federal Way summoned relief pitcher Tyler Hoeft in the fourth and he restored order.
South Kitsap starter Jason Sauer perhaps deserved a better fate than a no-decision. The senior righty settled down nicely after giving up a pair of runs in the first inning.
In the fourth, with two outs and two strikes on Federal Way’s Mark Wright, the South Kitsap dugout was in disbelief over two pitches that were close but ruled a ball. Wright then hit a long double off the wall in left-center field to bring the Eagles within one.
A throwing error on a routine ground ball allowed Federal Way to tie the game at 4-4.
“We didn’t help ourselves, we didn’t make the simple play in the time we needed to,” Logue said. “We let the game be a little bigger than what it needed to be.”
Garrison Glisson came on in the sixth and dominated. He struck out the first four batters he faced, six overall, in 2 2/3 innings. But after twin two-out hits in the eighth, a pitch sailed high and the winning run came in to score.
“There’s a reason why they were a two-seed coming from their league,” Logue said. “They battled and I think our bats weren’t quite what they should have been throughout the night.”
If South Kitsap prevailed over Olympia on Wednesday, its next game takes place at 1 p.m. May 12 at Heritage Park in Puyallup against the winner of the Camas-Kentlake. A win there would give the Wolves the opportunity to play for the No. 5 seed out of the district.
Federal Way 5, South Kitsap 4
SK 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 4 6 2
FW 2 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 — 5 6 2
WP: Hoeft LP: Glisson
