PE ELL — Coming oh-so-close to tossing a no-hitter in the 2B District 4 quarterfinals against Pe Ell-Willapa Valley, Adna ace Tristan Percival’s dominant day on the mound helped the Pirates advance to the district semifinals Saturday afternoon in an 8-1 win in Pe Ell.
The junior lefty struck out 13 of the 27 batters he faced, and with one out left in the seventh, gave up his first hit of the game to PWV’s Derek Fluke. That hit would score a runner at second, who reached on an error.
Percival ended his day after reaching his pitch count — with Beau Miller recording the final out on the bump — with no earned runs and just three walks.
“The last couple of games my fastball has been working,” Percival said. “So I wanted to get more fastballs in against them. I didn’t want to let them hit one off a slider or anything so I just committed to the fastball until they hit it, and they did right at the end.”
The southpaw was bummed about missing out on the no-no, but thrilled with his team’s performance, after a 15-3 defeat that morning in a loser-out contest against Rainier in five innings.
The Pirates led the entire way in the second game against Pacific 2B’s No. 2 PWV, with Percival knocking in the first run in the third, and the Pirates chipping and chipping away against Titan ace Garrett Keeton from there.
“We needed to get the ball in play and make them make a play,” Percival said. “We did good today. Garrett’s a good pitcher. It’s good to see him in the playoffs and we’ve got Toutle next, so it’s going to be fun. We just have to get the ball in play.”
Keeton countered with a strong effort for PWV, holding the Pirates to just three runs before the Pirates broke down the dam in the seventh after some errors.
The senior hurler tossed six innings, allowing five runs with three earned on seven hits and three walks with a pair of punchouts.
At the dish for Adna, Danner Hoinowski went 2 for 5 with two runs scored, Owen Fagerness went 2 for 3 with two runs scored, and Sawyer Terry went 2 for 3, and mashed a two-run bomb in the seventh to put a nail in the coffin.
All of that would prove to be more than enough run support for Percival, who opened the playoffs in style with a near no-no on Day 1 of the tournament.
“He pitched a heck of a game,” PWV coach Kent Smaciarz said. “Our hats are off to him. We knew what we were coming up against. We’ve seen some good pitchers this year, but he’s an exceptional one. We just have to battle on Tuesday.”
The loss drops PWV into a consolation quarterfinal matchup against Kalama at Napavine at 4:30 p.m. next Tuesday in a win-or-go-home contest.
The Titans will be without their ace, Keeton, who wanted to finish the game out Saturday and went over 105 pitches in a losing effort.
“I went out there to pull him and he said, ‘No, I want to battle,’” Smaciarz said. “We’re without him on Tuesday, the guys are going to have to step up and play. He wanted to try and finish them and go for the win at home, I felt like I couldn’t take that away from him.”
The Pirates, meanwhile, will move on to play Toutle Lake for a state berth and spot in the district championship at their home field on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m.
Though Adna will also have to pitch a different arm against the Ducks, Percival has confidence in himself and his team after going 0 for 2 against Toutle this season so far.
“I love competitiveness,” Percival said. “I love going back and forth on the mound, it's why I play the sport. I love playing people that give you that competition, that's what the playoffs give you.”
In the Pirates’ first win against Rainier to get into the quarterfinals, the Mountaineers struck first before Adna responded in Pe Ell in the morning game.
John Kenney hit a two-run shot in the first inning to give Rainier a lead, but after that Danner Hoinowski shut them down, and Percival and the Pirate bats came alive.
Hoinowski went all five innings and allowed just five hits and two walks with six strikeouts. Percival went 2 for 4 with a pair of doubles scoring four runs, all while scoring three himself. Fagerness got off to a hot start Saturday morning as well, knocking in three runs with a base hit and scoring two himself.
