Upset! Olympia outlasts rival Puyallup, wins 4A district baseball championship in extras
Celebrating on the infield dirt of Art Wright Field in Kent with the first-place district plaque in hand, Olympia head coach Derek Weldon confidently dubbed Bears starter Lincoln Berg the championship game’s MVP.
The choice was remarkably easy.
In Saturday night’s District ¾ 4A championship, Berg did everything – Olympia’s junior southpaw shoved seven stellar innings and held SPSL-champion Puyallup to one unearned run. He fanned six and walked four. And he scored both of Olympia’s runs, including a scamper home on an eighth-inning wild pitch that proved the game-winner.
In possession of a one-run lead, Olympia’s fill-in closer and UW commit Trace Pruitt retired Puyallup’s eighth inning in order to complete the upset in extras, 2-1. Their first win over the league-champion Vikings this season, multiple Bears threw gloves and hats to the sky and stormed Pruitt on the mound.
“It means a lot for us to bounce back like this,” Berg said.
Both teams are off to state, but Olympia hoisted the District 3/4 trophy.
Puyallup reached base 10 times in the title game – six of those runners reached scoring position – but Berg had an answer for each and every jam despite constant traffic. In perhaps his best magic act of the night, he loaded the bases with no outs in the fourth inning and returned with consecutive strikeouts and a routine grounder to shortstop that averted damage.
Through it all, Berg was cool, calm, collected. He painted a four-seam fastball on the corners and mixed off-speed pitches when needed.
“I was thinking, this batter’s not better than me,” he told reporters. “I’m gonna beat him, and I’m going to do whatever it takes to beat him.”
Also Olympia’s leadoff hitter, Berg was plunked by Puyallup starter Keenan Masters in the first at-bat of the game and soon stole second base. Pruitt’s ensuing RBI double plated Berg and provided an early 1-0 lead.
“Tremendous character from Lincoln, and he’s demonstrated that,” Weldon said. “Obviously, a lot of adversity. … It’s not new to them. He was his best in (tough) situations and managed, and made pitches.”
Saturday’s championship quickly produced a left-handed pitcher’s duel between Berg and Masters. The latter was brilliant in a losing effort with seven strikeouts and one walk, surrendering two earned runs on five hits.
Masters retired as many as nine consecutive Olympia hitters and picked apart the strike zone with an impressive breaking ball. Command was his specialty, issuing his lone walk in extras.
In the second inning, Puyallup’s Kai Halstead ripped a leadoff double to left field and later scored on Max Hemenway’s sacrifice fly to center field. Saturday’s championship was soon tied, 1-1.
It’s when both pitchers settled in.
“We knew from the start it was going to be a dogfight to beat them,” Berg said. “And we did it.”
Puyallup and Olympia blanked respective opponents in adjacent 4A District 3/4 semifinals earlier Saturday morning at Kent Memorial Park:
Olympia 11, Tahoma 0
Olympia starter Travis Kunkel twirled a five-inning no-hitter, and the Bears run-ruled Tahoma in Saturday morning’s 4A district semifinal.
Kunkel faced two batters over the minimum. He plunked one Tahoma batter, and another reached on a fielding error. But Olympia’s sophomore right-hander was brilliant in a contest that sent the winner to Saturday night’s championship. He struck out eight and did not issue a hit or walk.
Third baseman Jack Skelley launched a three-run homer in the first inning, and Olympia poured on runs early and often.
Right fielder Cameron Costello lashed a two-run single in the third inning that pushed Olympia’s lead to six.
Puyallup 9, Camas 0
Vikings starter Michael LeJeune went six scoreless, and Puyallup exploded for eight runs in the third inning at Art Wright Field, an emphatic over Camas in the district semifinals.
If hitting is indeed contagious, this wild third inning proved it. Without an extra-base hit, Puyallup plated eight runs on seven singles, two walks, a hit by pitch, and sacrifice fly.
LeJeune, meanwhile, coasted. He retired the game’s first five batters and tossed a two-hitter over six strong innings with four walks and five strikeouts.
Puyallup first baseman Jackson Copeland went 2-for-4 with a run and two RBI.
This story was originally published May 11, 2024 at 10:39 PM.
