It's rebound day for Federal Way baseball, Sumner soccer. Programs overcome losses to get third-place trophies
On Saturday, Federal Way High School had the opposite experience as their first day of the state 4A baseball tournament.
The Eagles opened up an eight-run lead after three innings, and cruised to a 13-5 victory over Wenatchee to claim third place at Gesa Stadium.
Abiel Gonzalez drove in four runs, Brandham Ponce singled in a run and scored three times and starting pitcher Garrett Morris tossed five scoreless innings for Federal Way, which bounced back from a 11-0 loss on Friday to Richland — who led, 8-0, after two innings.
“Yesterday when (Richland) punched us in the mouth we didn’t respond,” Eagles coach Arlo Evasick said. “Today… we did. It was a good response by our guys and it took back the momentum.”
It's the best finish for Federal Way, which won its only state title in 2001, since 2010 when the Eagles also finished third.
Ponce had scored the game's first run after walking to lead off the game, and then coming home on a two-out RBI single by Mark Wright. The lead grew in the second on Gonzalez's two-out RBI single.
Federal Way broke the game open with a five-run third, getting RBIs from sophomore Alex Bradshaw, Ponce and sophomore Adam Taylor.
That was plenty of support for Morris, who limited the Panthers to two hits through five innings. He earned the win, striking out three while allowing four earned runs.
“I could throw at least two of three pitches for strikes, and I could throw them where I wanted,” said the lefty starter. “I just felt great.”
4A soccer
Sumner 6, Eastmont 1: Kurtis VanHout had a hat trick, including two goals in the first nine minutes at Sparks Stadium in Puyallup, helping the Spartans (19-3) claim third place.
Following a crushing double-overtime defeat in the 4A state semifinals Friday night against Skyline, Sumner regrouped to earn the best finish in program history. The Spartans, who also won a share of the 4A SPSL title with Puyallup, also captured a top seed out of the 4A West Central/Southwest bidistrict tournament.
VanHout scored the opening goal for Sumner in the third minute off of a deflection.
Eastmont answered in the eighth minute, but VanHout knocked in his second goal of the match on a cross from Johnathon Guglielmetti to give the Spartans a lead they would not relinquish.
Andre Cipriano made it 3-1 just before the half, and Michael Poe and Alec LaBarge connected in the 50th minute.
VanHout completed his hat trick a few minutes later on a header pass from Butler, which he then headed past Eastmont's keeper.
Mitchell Hutter scored Sumner's final goal.
2A soccer
Highline 3, Franklin Pierce 0: The Pirates got a little revenge Saturday, topping Franklin Pierce in a rematch of the 2A West Central District title game.
This time around, the prize was bigger — a third-place trophy in the 2A state tournament at Sunset Chev Stadium in Sumner.
The Pirates, who fell to the Cardinals, 1-0, earlier this month, overwhelmed Franklin Pierce, which struggled to muster a counter attack in the state playoffs after losing star forward Gilbert De La Luz (foot) in the quarterfinals.
Edwin Ochoa struck first for Highline (17-3-1) in the 19th minute. The Pirates pulled away with additional goals in the 67th and 80th minutes by Jack Madsen and Guillermo Iraheta, respectively.
Franklin Pierce, which didn't suffer a loss this season until Friday's 1-0 semifinals defeat to Columbia River, advanced to the state semifinals for the first time since 2009.
The Cardinals (19-2-2) earned a fourth-place finish.
Staff writer Lauren Smith and contributing writer David Krueger contributed to this report.
This story was originally published May 26, 2018 at 4:33 PM with the headline "It's rebound day for Federal Way baseball, Sumner soccer. Programs overcome losses to get third-place trophies."