Kentwood to play for 4A baseball crown
TYLER HEMSTREET; Contributing writer
Kentwood High School baseball coach Jon Aarstad spent the week leading up to the Class 4A state semifinals working with his team on how to win one-run games.
It was evident Friday night that seniors Taylor White and Ben Cox were paying attention.
Cox delivered a game-tying, pinch-hit triple during the bottom of the sixth inning, and White singled in the game-winning run one inning later as Kentwood defeated Federal Way, 3-2, at Safeco Field.
The Conquerors will play Richland in the 4A title game at 7 p.m. today. It’s Kentwood’s third appearance in the title game in school history. The Conquerors are 1-1 in their prior finals appearances.
“We haven’t had to do that very often,” Aarstad said of his team’s experience in close games this year. “And that was the focus of the week. I had no doubt (the Eagles) were going to come out and battle.”
And it came down to the last pitch. A pair of walks, a sacrifice bunt and an intentional walk loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh for White, who lined a solid single to left field on the second pitch he saw from reliever Austin Weber.
“I just told myself to relax and get a hit,” White said.
White drove in J.T. Evenson with the winning hit, but it was Cox’s two-out, RBI triple in the sixth to tie the game 2-2 that seemed to bring the Conks’ offense to life.
“We were excited after that,” White said. “It was a whole different game.”
Cox crushed the at-bat’s first pitch from Federal Way starter Elliot Morris deep into the gap in right-center, scoring Matt Bell – who had drawn a two-out walk – from first base.
“I just didn’t think … just get up there and swing it like you can,” Cox said. “I just sat on it. It definitely had a momentum change in it.”
Federal Way (18-6), which had won 11 straight games, jumped out to a 1-0 lead on Nick Tanielu’s RBI double off the scoreboard in left field during the first inning. The Eagles added another run in the second on a sacrifice fly by Drew Cratsenberg.
But Kentwood ace Austin Voth settled down and shut down the Eagles from the third inning on, giving up just one more hit and finishing with eight strikeouts.
“I’d never pitched at Safeco before,” Voth said. “I just wanted to get the feel and everything. … Then I got into a groove.
Kentwood (20-3) improved to 3-0 this year against its SPSL North Division rival.
“They’d smashed us twice, but we felt like we made the changes and had a lot more confidence,” Federal Way coach Danny Graham said. “We knew that it was going to be a tough game. If you would have told me we’d hold Kentwood to three runs, I would have told you I’d take that.”
Richland advanced to the championship game with a 1-0 victory over Shorewood.
CLASS 3A
O’Dea 18, Enumclaw 9: Defending 3A state champion O’Dea advanced to the final, breaking it open in the fourth inning. Already leading 5-1, the Fighting Irish scored six runs in the inning and added two more in the fifth.
Keenan Forch homered and drove in five runs for O’Dea (20-8), which banged out 15 hits. Sophomore Tyler Carlson went 2-for-2 with a solo home run and three RBI for Enumclaw (19-7), which will face Columbia River at 10 a.m. today in the third/fourth place game.
Camas 3, Columbia River 2 (11 innings): Junior Kurt Yinger’s two-run double in the bottom of the 11th lifted Camas (19-7), which won despite getting outhit 10-5.
