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A missed throw to first and a botched pickle came back to bite W.F. West on Thursday, as Bainbridge scored the only two runs it needed on those two plays to top the Bearcats 2-1.
It’s W.F. West’s first loss of the season after it opened the spring with eight consecutive wins.
Connor Coleman and Bainbridge’s McCrea Curfman were locked in a pitcher’s duel early, with neither allowing a run to score over the first four innings of the game despite there being some traffic on the basepaths.
The Spartans had two runners on and two outs when AJ Larsen hit a chopper towards short. The throw to first was off line, allowing the Spartan on second to advance home and put runners on the corners.
Coleman executed a well-timed pickoff move, forcing the runner at first into a pickle, but he ultimately avoided the tag at second, and the runner from third sprinted home to make it 2-0.
“We had that one bad inning where we threw the ball around a little bit,” W.F. West coach Jesse Elam said. “That’s what it comes down to, especially when you’re not scoring runs.”
Curfman wasn’t just working through the W.F. West lineup, but he was doing it extremely efficiently. Through five innings, he had thrown just 45 pitches, 40 of which were strikes.
W.F. West’s best chance to grab the lead came in the fourth, when two Bearcats reached scoring position with no one out.
They weren’t able to get a run across, though. Instead, a 1-2 groundout, a popout to first, and another bloop popup to first ended the inning.
“Their first baseman makes a nice play, and we don’t get a couple bunts where we want them,” Elam said. “If we do that, it’s a different ball game. But we didn’t. We gotta be able to execute.”
Weston Potter eventually drove in the Bearcats’ lone run with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the sixth, and the potential tying run was stranded at second.
Coleman ended up taking the loss on the mound despite an excellent performance, one where he allowed just two hits and the two runs while striking out five.
“He looked good,” Elam said. “He had his fastball, and he was pounding the strike zone. He could’ve kept going, but we needed to see some other guys work a little.
Hayden Rooney and Grady Westlund both got an inning in relief, and they both struck out two in a pair of 1-2-3 innings.
Deacon Meller and Ross Kelley both recorded two hits at the plate, and Beckman Dvorak also got a hit in two at-bats.
The matchup against Bainbridge was W.F. West’s final non-league test, and though it ended with a loss, the Bearcats have plenty to build on heading into league play.
Through the first month of the season, they have wins against Anacortes and Ridgefield, two teams that made the state tournament last season. They also have a win over Othello, who is 8-1 on the year.
While Elam wasn’t happy to lose on Thursday, he was happy that they’ll be able to look back on this game in similar environments later in the season.
“I’m glad this happened to us,” Elam said. “I’m glad we played a tough team and that they beat us. We gotta keep working and grinding away, and understand that we’re gonna get into these types of games later in the season, and we gotta be able to do something about it.”
It’s all league play the rest of the way out for the Bearcats (8-1, 3-0 2A EvCo), who will host Black Hills on Tuesday.
“I’m just excited to play three times a week,” Elam said. “It’s go time now. We’re ready.”
