t Down 23 runs and 22 hits, Wolves bounced by Bothell.
Perhaps it was just a case where the Peter Principle came into play.
It certainly appeared that the South Kitsap High School baseball team reached a point where it couldn’t be competitive.
Behind 22 hits and a solid performance by starter Kevin Higginbotham, Bothell earned a 23-2 win Saturday against the Wolves at Kent Memorial. It was the most runs Bothell scored all season and the highest number the Wolves (15-6) allowed.
“You’ve got three facets — pitching, hitting and fielding,“ South coach Jim Fairweather said. “I didn’t think we were too good in any of those things.”
One of the few highlights for South came in the first inning when Bothell’s catcher overthrew third base with two outs on a double-steal attempt, which allowed Charlie Hough to score and gave the Wolves a 1-0 lead.
But that’s as good as it would get for South, which was eliminated from the playoffs.
Bothell’s first five batters reached base on starter Adam Douty (3-5), capped by a two-run home run by outfielder Ian McKay to give them a 5-1 lead.
“I thought we put the ball up in the wheelhouse too many times,” Fairweather said. “I feel bad for our seniors to go out like that, particularly Douty, who’s been so tough. It’s kind of hard for me to watch that.”
The Wolves couldn’t respond in the second off starter Higginbotham (7-0), who had six strikeouts, allowed two runs — one earned — and five hits in six innings. He threw 59 of 90 pitches for strikes.
Steiger, who went 0 for 1 with three walks, was disappointed he couldn’t do more to help his team as the No. 3 hitter.
“It was a little frustrating at times,” he said. “I want something to hit, but maybe they’re pitching around me a bit or maybe they’re just missing.”
After sending nine hitters to the plate in the first, Bothell (17-7) put 10 batters up in the second.
The first three hitters reached on a double, an error and a walk before Douty was replaced by Drew Saddler. But the Cougars scored four runs, all on singles, with two outs and five in the inning to take a 10-1 lead.
“It was just one of those games where everything they seemed to do clicked,” Fairweather said. “The hitting obviously was clicking … everything seemed to find a home.”
Bothell added another run in the third when outfielder Beau Breda hit an RBI single to extend the lead to 11-1.
The Wolves looked like they might cut into that lead in the fourth when they loaded no outs, but only scored one when Shawn Stayton’s sacrifice fly brought Ghryn Hobson home.
That was the last time South could contemplate a rally as Bothell brought a dozen hitters to the plate in the fourth and scored nine more runs to extend its advantage to 20-2.
Breda, who went 4 for 5 with a double and six RBI, had a three-run double in the inning.
“I just got my pitches to hit and took advantage of them,” Breda said. “It was a nice day out there.”
The 10-run rule generally comes into effect in the fifth, but it isn’t applied to state-level games. Instead, South suffered through its largest margin of defeat in 46 state playoff games.
The Wolves’ previous worst was an 18-0 loss in the quarterfinals two years ago against Jackson.
Mike O’Brien, who relieved Saddler with one out in the fifth, surrendered three more runs in the fifth to bring the score to its final.
The Cougars didn’t score any runs for the first time in the sixth.
Brian Buske relieved Higginbotham in the seventh and after a one-out single by Mitch Cartwright, he got Hough to line out and Brady Steiger to ground out to end the 2½-hour game.
“This is a humbling game,“ Fairweather said. “You can feel really good about it one time and be humbled the next time. I just keep telling them, humble and hungry is the way you’ve got to be. If nothing else, there’s a lesson to be learned here from that.”
Steiger said he will learn from the experience. He returns next year along with pitcher Collin Monagle, who didn’t start this year because of a shoulder problem.
Monagle is ranked as the No. 4 prospect in Washington for the class of 2009 by Baseball Northwest, while Steiger is 10th.
Monagle has committed to the University of Washington, while Steiger is headed to Washington State.
“Next year will be much more relaxing when we get to this point,” Steiger said. “We have a bunch of young guys returning, who will be experienced.”
Class 4A state baseball playoffs
Kent Memorial
Bothell 23, South Kitsap 2
South Kitsap 100 100 0 — 2 6 3
Bothell 551 930 x — 23 22 2
Adam Douty, Drew Saddler (2), Mike O’Brien (4) and Todd Dalrymple, Gordy Anderson (6). Kevin Higginbotham, Brian Buske (7) and Trevor Austin, James Korn (5).
Leading hitters—B: Bryan Mourer 2-4 BB 2 RBI, Beau Breda 4-5 2B 6 RBI, Kurt Stottlemyer 3-5 2B, Craig Monson 2-4 2B RBI, Ian McKay 2-4 2B HR 3 RBI, Cory Burk 2-3 2 2B. SK: Charlie Hough 2-3.
