South Sound high school sports roundup: Meier’s bases-clearing double propels Sumner
The spring high school sports season is in full swing. Here are some results from this week’s action in the South Sound.
FRIDAY’S RESULTS (APRIL 12)
BASEBALL
4A
SUMNER 11, SOUTH KITSAP 1 (5)
An eight-run second inning paved Sumner’s smooth path to Friday’s victory, the club’s third straight.
Grayson Meier’s three-run double cleared the bases, Keagin Dail lined a two-run single to right, and Sumner poured on early runs in a frame that featured four extra base hits and a dozen plate appearances.
“We’ve been up and down, up until late,” Sumner coach Saul Hardin said. “(They’re) just coming together, probably believing in each other a little more.
“It doesn’t matter who’s up to the plate... I think guys are feeling confident in each other.”
Sumner arms Wyatt Plyler (3 IP) and Ryder Peterson (2 IP) threw a combined one-hitter, and the Spartans run-ruled South Kitsap in five innings.
Plyer walked the game’s first two batters but quickly induced a lineout double play and first-inning-ending fly out without damage.
“(Wyatt) settled down right after that and pitched well,” Hardin said. “Ryder came in and didn’t walk anybody. He threw strikes, pounded the zone. You have to do that, especially when you’re up a bunch of runs. You can’t give up free passes.”
Meier went 1-for-2 with his bases-clearing, three-RBI double in the second inning. Shortstop Drew Wicklander went 2-for-2 with an RBI single and run scored.
Sumner’s last loss? One week ago Friday. The Spartans fell to these Wolves at South Kitsap, 4-3. And ironically, Sumner logged more hits last April 5 (nine) in the loss than they did in their 10-run win (eight).
What was different?
“Hitting the ball the other way, and staying up the middle,” Hardin said. “They were all clutch hits.
“It was just clutch hit after clutch hit.”
PRAIRIE 6, PENINSULA 3
Peninsula loaded the bases with the tying runs in the seventh inning – but Falcons reliever Isaac Watson navigated the jam and induced the game-winning double play on Friday night, good for Prairie’s 10th win in 11 games.
Watson tossed three shutout relief innings and went 2-for-3 at the plate, including Prairie’s go-ahead, two-run double in the fifth inning. It capped a five-run frame and erased an early deficit after Peninsula plated three runs in the first.
Watson and Aidan Emery threw a combined shutout across four relief innings. Falcons starter Luke Askelson went three innings, surrendering three earned runs (four hits) with two walks and five strikeouts.
Peninsula starter Grayson Ford threw four strong innings. He struck out three, walked one, and allowed one earned run on three hits.
Prairie jumped on Seahawks reliever Cole Scholer in the fifth inning and loaded the bases before recording an out via walks and a Peninsula error. Falcons shortstop Nolan Nunn tied the game with a two-run single before Watson’s go-ahead double.
4A
ROGERS 8, EMERALD RIDGE 2
Coltyn Clark fanned four across six strong innings, lifting Rogers to a third-straight win Friday night.
The Rams pounced for three runs in the first inning, and Clark consistently induced soft contact that held Emerald Ridge at bay.
Rams catcher Logan Howard lined a first-inning double to right field that plated two runs and put Rogers on the board. He finished 2-for-2 with two RBI and two walks.
Rogers third baseman Jason Marshall added a solo home run in the third inning.
SOFTBALL
NON-LEAGUE
WHITE RIVER 10, SPANAWAY LAKE 5
Abby Akins and Grace Wolff homered, and White River out-slugged 3A-Spanaway Lake on Friday evening.
In an early two-run hole, Wolff provided instant fireworks. White River’s right fielder worked her first count full, then drove the payoff dead-center for a go-ahead, three-run homer.
Spanaway Lake regained a 5-4 lead in the home second – but White River’s Elliotte Kajita plated the tying run with a third-inning fielder’s choice and later lined the go-ahead, RBI double to center in the fifth.
Akins blasted a two-run insurance homer in the sixth, going 3-for-4 with three runs with two RBI. She finished a triple shy of the cycle.
Hornets catcher McKenna Charlton went 4-for-4, all singles.
Kajita tossed five shutout relief innings (two hits) with no walks and seven strikeouts.
SILAS 19, BELLARMINE PREP 4 (5)
Silas star Natalie Medalia homered, drove in seven runs, and tossed a five-inning complete game with seven strikeouts in Friday’s big win over Bellarmine Prep.
Medalia sparked an offense that quickly caught fire. Following Tatum Butterfield’s leadoff walk, she worked a hitter-friendly 3-1 count and promptly launched a line-drive, two-run homer to center field in the first inning.
In the circle, Medalia overcame five defensive errors behind her. Across 102 pitches, she surrendered five hits and four runs (none earned) with five walks and seven strikeouts. And she went 2-for-3 at the plate with a game-high seven RBI, adding three runs and a walk.
Silas scored 13 runs in a wild third inning, the beneficiaries of 11 walks and two plunked batters. Medalia hit and reached twice in the frame, adding a two-run double and bases-loaded walk.
THURSDAY’S RESULTS (APRIL 11)
BASEBALL
2A
ENUMCLAW 11, WHITE RIVER 3
Garrett Chavis plated five runs on three hits, and Enumclaw emerged late for an emphatic, 11-3 win over crosstown White River.
White River jumped for two early runs, but Chavis soon spearheaded the comeback. Enumclaw’s first baseman ripped a third-inning RBI single to center that cut the deficit in half. In the seventh, his sacrifice fly manufactured the first of five insurance runs.
Enumclaw starter Cooper Markham went six strong frames, surrendering three runs (one earned) on five hits with two walks and nine strikeouts. And Markham was 2-for-5 at the plate with three RBI, including the go-ahead, two-run double that plated Chavis and Eli Murphy in the third.
Designated hitter Landon Wall went 2-for-3 with two walks and an RBI double in the seventh.
STEILACOOM 25, FOSS 2
The floodgates opened in the fourth inning: Steilacoom batted around the lineup, and then some, before recording an out.
Six hits. Five walks. An error, and a hit by pitch.
In total, 13 consecutive Steilacoom batters reached to lead off the fourth, and the Sentinels exploded for 16 runs in the frame en route to a runaway win over Foss.
Shortstop Micah Bujacich smoked a bases-clearing triple amidst the chaos, and finished 3-for-4 with two runs and six RBI.
Each of Steilacoom’s nine starters recorded a hit; CF Josiah Morley went 3-for-4 with two RBI.
Sentinels starter Seth Tchobanoff struck out four and surrendered two runs (three hits) in two innings.
Reliever Drew MacDonald added three hitless innings, including a 1-2-3 fifth that slammed the door.
SOFTBALL
4A
OLYMPIA 15, CURTIS 1 (5)
Olympia already rosters TNT All-Area pitcher Sami Povtin -- so why not add another standout softball sibling?
Sydney Potvin, a freshman catcher, continues to impress throughout her first high-school campaign. She launched a three-run homer in Thursday’s first inning, and Olympia went on to rout Curtis in an SPSL rivalry.
Olympia’s cleanup hitter and everyday backstop, Sydney quickly excited her coaching staff with eye-popping power and plus-defense behind the plate, the battery-mate for both Sami and Thursday starter Ava Bautista.
“A no-doubter,” Olympia coach Drew Wellner said of Sydney’s three-run blast, her third of the season. “She’s strong. She has quick hips, so she can get around on it in a hurry.”
Bautista posted three perfect innings before being pulled with 37 pitches and a comfortable lead. She mixed a “nasty changeup” and effective curveball with pinpoint precision.
“Everything was working,” Wellner said.
Sami, the senior ace who played third baseman Thursday, went 4-for-4 with four runs and two RBI.
Olympia’s Brooklyn Crass (SS) and Curtis’ Melanie Spivey (CF) each led off the fourth inning with solo home runs.
3A
TIMBERLINE 17, PENINSULA 0
Any pitch left reasonably close to Jasmyn Polanco is a mistake, and on Thursday, Timberline’s two-way standout made Peninsula pay.
The leadoff runner already aboard, Polanco crushed her second offering of the fourth inning dead-center – a no-doubt, two-run homer that pushed Timberline’s lead to seven in a ballooning blowout against the reigning state champs.
“She was looking for her pitch, and found one she liked and took it dead-center,” Timberline head coach Lynsi Polanco said. “She’s been pulling the ball a little bit, so I feel like that one was maybe more on the outside corner, and she gave it a good ride.”
And who threw the Blazers’ five-inning shutout, to boot? That’d be Polanco, who surrendered only three hits and three walks with seven strikeouts throughout a complete game.
“(Jasmyn) really worked the zone,” Polanco said. “She saw where the weaknesses were on the batters, and went right after them.”
Polanco was 2-for-2 at the plate with two walks and five RBI, reaching in all four plate appearances. Blazers first baseman Hazel Abbott went 3-for-3 with five RBI, including a second-inning sacrifice fly that put Timberline on the scoreboard.
All nine Blazer hitters collected at least one hit; six collected multi-hit games.
“That’s what I was most proud of,” Polanco said. “I told them everybody hit, and everybody played a part in it. It was a team win.”
Timberline travels to Ocosta for a 4 p.m. first pitch on Friday.
YELM 14, CENTRAL KITSAP 4 (5)
Yelm’s 1-2-3 hitters collected three hits apiece, and the Tornados smacked their way to a third consecutive mercy-rule win Thursday.
Shortstop Austin Hitchner’s second-inning double to left scored Elisa Dewees, the go-ahead run, before Yelm erupted for five runs in each of the second and fourth frames.
Dewees reached safely five times and scored four runs, going 3-for-3 with two walks and two RBI. And Hitchner was a homer shy of the cycle, going 3-for-4 with a triple and team-high four RBI.
Yelm CF Madisyn Erickson went 3-for-5 with three RBI.
A pair of Yelm defensive mishaps led to four early Central Kitsap runs, but Tornados starter Kylie Minker tossed four solid innings without an earned run (three hits), whiffing six and walking two.
MORE SCORES
SOFTBALL
3A
River Ridge 10, Capital 1
WEDNESDAY’S RESULTS (APRIL 10)
BASEBALL
4A
OLYMPIA 4, EMERALD RIDGE 1
One of the South Sound’s top arms twirled another gem – Olympia right-hander Trace Pruitt posted an eight-strikeout complete game, and the Bears snapped Emerald Ridge’s five-game win streak on Wednesday afternoon behind the efforts of its ace.
Pruitt, a University of Washington commit, struck out eight without a walk. He allowed five hits and a lone unearned run in the second inning that reached scoring position on an error.
“He’s an absolute bulldog on the mound,” Olympia head coach Derek Weldon said of Pruitt. “Fastball command was good. He was landing breaking balls for strikes, a couple changeups to their left-handed hitters. Soft contact. He’s always going to compete, and he did today, for sure.”
Olympia shortstop Jack Skelley crushed a two-out, three-run homer in the first inning, and Emerald Ridge never attacked Pruitt enough to place the tying run aboard.
Olympia’s Rylan Holmberg ripped an RBI single through the left infield for seventh-inning insurance.
“Certainly felt good to get that extra one (run),” Weldon said. “I didn’t think Trace needed it... but it made it more comfortable heading into the seventh.
“That’s a good team. Emerald Ridge is good, man. It’s definitely one of the best lineups in our league.”
SUMNER 5, CURTIS 2 (10)
Xander Cypher’s bases-loaded fielder’s choice plated the go-ahead run in the 10th inning, and Sumner (8-2) survived a challenge from rival-Curtis in extras – still within striking distance (1 GB) of the 4A SPSL lead.
The bases loaded and one out, Cypher’s 2-2 grounder dribbled to Curtis shortstop Parker Mady; he couldn’t turn an inning-ending double play, instead opting for the force at third base.
Spartans third baseman Evan Kaylor, meanwhile, scampered home from third, and Sumner had its go-ahead run.
Chase Kreuger scored later in the inning on an error, and Grayson Meier drew a bases-loaded, RBI walk that pushed the lead to three.
Spartans shortstop Drew Wicklander went 3-for-5 with a leadoff double in the deciding 10th frame.
3A
STADIUM 22, MOUNT TAHOMA 5
Stadium starter Kellen Colglazier tossed three no-hit frames, then went 3-for-3 with two walks and four RBI at the plate in another Tigers blowout.
On consecutive days, Stadium run-ruled Mount Tahoma in five innings, a mix of shutdown pitching and inevitable run support (the Tigers scored in every inning Wednesday).
It’s an offense accustomed to 10-plus runs per game, and that trend continued as Stadium (10-0, 13-1) remains atop the 3A PCL standings with also-undefeated Bonney Lake awaiting two games with the Tigers next week.
Stadium piled five runs in the first inning, all with two outs. Colglazier aided his cause in the second, driving an RBI double to left field that pushed the lead to nine.
The Tigers piled 18 hits, and seven hitters posted multi-hit games. Stadium also drew seven walks.
Stadium right fielder Dayton Lopez went 3-for-5 with two doubles and three RBI.
SOFTBALL
4A
ROGERS 9, GRAHAM-KAPOWSIN 2
It took Keagan Norfleet 122 pitches, but Rogers’ top arm collected 10 strikeouts in another dazzling performance – already her fifth complete game in seven starts this season.
Norfleet is Rogers’ workhorse in the circle, having thrown 47 of the team’s 57 innings thus far. Living up to the workload, she’s 3-4 with a 3.43 ERA, 14 walks, and 67 strikeouts. But Norfleet is equally productive in the batter’s box, now 14-for-28 (.500) with five doubles, seven RBI, and a 1.234 OPS.
She was fantastic Wednesday, fanning 10. She walked two and surrendered six hits that generated two Graham-Kapowsin runs, but Rogers preserved a one-run lead before exploding for seven more in the final three innings.
“She’s a competitor,” Rogers coach Mike Hawkins said of his starter. “She throws the ball hard, and keeps the ball down. She’s pretty accurate. She hits her spots... and she knows that team really well.”
Rogers shortstop Raygun Klippert went 4-for-4 in consecutive days, another eruption by the All-Area infielder possessing video game numbers in 2024. Through nine games, Rogers’ leadoff hitter is 23-for-34 (.676) with four walks, four strikeouts, and a freakish .676/.711/.971 slash line.
“She’s a student of hitting,” Hawkins said of Klippert. “I’ll just put it that way. ... That kid is fast, and she turns singles into doubles, and doubles into triples.
“She hits every day. She has a home facility that she hits in. At practice, she’s always wanting to hit, or stay extra and hit, or come early and hit. She just doesn’t miss it.”
Klippert led off the game with a bunt single and later scored on an error, an instant lead for Rogers. She singled and scored again in the third inning when Norfleet ripped an RBI double to left.
Norfleet scored Klippert for a third time in the fifth inning, a sacrifice fly to left.
SOUTH KITSAP 7, EMERALD RIDGE 5 (8)
Kamdyn Hagerty turned superhuman on Wednesday night – South Kitsap’s two-way star launched two home runs, including a game-tying solo blast in the seventh inning, then twirled a pair of shutout relief innings to seal an eight-inning victory, 7-5, over Emerald Ridge.
Hagerty was 4-for-4 with three RBI, two runs, and a walk. She homered in the fifth and seventh innings, and finished a triple shy of the cycle. She powered the late-game comeback and finished it, too.
South Kitsap CF Eva Spencer led off the fifth inning with a solo homer that brought the Wolves within two.
Through eight games, Hagerty is 14-for-25 (.560) with three home runs and eight RBI. In the circle, she’s 4-2 with a 1.62 ERA, nine walks, and 42 strikeouts.
PUYALLUP 17, BETHEL 1
Amori Hargrove drove in six runs, and Puyallup routed SPSL-foe Bethel in five innings Wednesday.
Puyallup’s center fielder ripped a bases-loaded, two-run double in the fourth inning that pushed the lead to 14. Hargrove went 3-for-4 with six total RBI and two runs; left fielder Nola Reily went 3-for-4, adding an RBI single in the third.
Puyallup’s second batter of the game, Kayla Ringenbach poked a 2-2 pitch down the right field line for extra bases. She rounded second base without brakes. And hustling into third, Bethel’s throw sailed wide – allowing Ringenbach to dash home on the same play.
The Vikings had instant offense that never died Wednesday. Puyallup tallied 16 hits in a team effort, headlined by Hargrove’s six RBI.
Puyallup starter Kate Havice tossed three strong innings, surrendering one unearned run on four hits. She whiffed three and walked one.
MORE SCORES
BASEBALL
4A
Mount Rainier 5, Decatur 2
Kentridge 7, Federal Way 1
3A
Silas 12, Lincoln 5
Lakes 7, Spanaway Lake 1
Peninsula 5, North Thurston 3
Central Kitsap 14, River Ridge 0
Timberline 3, Gig Harbor 2
Capital 3, Yelm 2
Todd Beamer 11, Kent Meridian 5
Auburn Mountainview 4, Auburn 2
2A
Steilacoom 19, Foss 0
Enumclaw 8, Orting 2
SOFTBALL
4A
Federal Way 17, Spanaway Lake 7
Tahoma 9, Decatur 3
3A
Lincoln 20, Hazen 7
Stadium 15, Mount Tahoma 1
Yelm 22, Capital 3
Gig Harbor 9, Central Kitsap 3
Auburn Riverside 17, Forks 0
2A
Orting 19, Clover Park 0
White River 12, Enumclaw 9
Fife 15, Steilacoom 3
TUESDAY’S RESULTS (APRIL 9)
BASEBALL
3A
STADIUM 23, MOUNT TAHOMA 2
The offense came around for the Stadium Tigers on Tuesday evening.
Against four Mount Tahoma pitchers, the Tigers put together 14 hits – all singles. What turned this Pierce County League game completely lopsided, though, were the 14 walks the Thunderbirds issued in between those hits.
It all turned into a 23-2 rout for Stadium, which remained unbeaten in league play (9-0) and improved to 12-1 overall this spring. The victory kept the Tigers tied atop the PCL with Bonney Lake, a team Stadium is scheduled to play on consecutive afternoons next week.
“Those will be for the league championship,” Stadium coach Justin Hinkle said. “It was a good offensive day today. If our offense comes around, we can play with anybody.”
The Tigers batted around in the second, third and fourth innings after having scratched out a single run in the bottom of the first against the T-Birds. Stadium sent 10 men to the plate in the second and scored five times.
An inning later, 19 batters put up a 13-spot in the third and the game was decided. Even as the Tigers tried to just get this one over with, they scored four more times in the fourth, their last at-bat due to the mercy rule taking effect.
Stadium starter Riley Newman gave up the two Mount Tahoma runs after sitting and watching that third-inning barrage. Newman allowed just three hits (all in the two-run fourth after Stadium already led 19-0), struck out nine and allowed a walk in his four innings.
This story will be updated with more scores and results throughout the week.
This story was originally published April 10, 2024 at 9:32 AM.
