Prep baseball: River Ridge’s ‘back against the wall’ after loss to North Kitsap

2A BASEBALL

North Kitsap 5, River Ridge 0: The Hawks struggled to score in what was a dominant pitching performance for North Kitsap’s pitcher Ryan Hecker.

“Sometimes you just gotta tip your hat to a kid,” River Ridge coach Chad Arko said. “He’s got a great two seam fastball.”

Hecker went for all six innings and gave up zero runs with only four hits while also getting eight strikeouts in the game.

“Somedays you just get beat by a kid who is better than you and he was just better than you,” Arko said. “Right now I’m excited to see how we fight back in the loser out game.”

River Ridge will face Washington at 5 p.m. Wednesday at Franklin Pierce High School.

“Right now our back is against the wall,” Arko said. “You take away from it and you move on.”

Fife 3, Port Angeles 2: The Trojans escaped with a slim win over the Roughriders and clinched a trip to the 2A state tournament. The win gives them a date with North Kitsap in the district semifinals at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Kitsap County Fairgrounds.

Port Angeles 4, Steilacoom 1: The Roughriders got the better of the Sentinels. Steilacoom will face Sequim on Wednesday at the Kitsap County Fairgrounds with first pitch scheduled for 6:30 p.m.

Olympic 7, Washington 6: The Patriots play River Ridge in a loser out game on Wednesday at 5 p.m. at Franklin Pierce High School.

1A WEST CENTRAL

Chimacum 4, Vashon Island 0: The Pirates fell to the Cowboys, putting an end to their season in the loser-out 1A West Central District matchup a year after winning the 1A state championship.

2B SOUTHWEST

Wahkiakum 10, Life Christian 0: Riding momentum from a 1-0 win over Toledo earlier in the day, the Mules walloped the Eagles forcing them into the loser’s bracket.

The Eagles play a loser-out game against Kalama at Adna High School on Tuesday. First pitch will be thrown at 4 p.m.

This story was originally published May 7, 2017 at 1:49 AM with the headline "Prep baseball: River Ridge’s ‘back against the wall’ after loss to North Kitsap."