After delay, Lake Washington ends Puyallup’s perfect season in 4A state semifinal
A night’s sleep, the bright morning sunshine in Yakima and a change of uniforms from black to gold couldn’t change one thing: Puyallup was still in an 8-0 hole in the fifth inning of the 4A state semifinal game against Lake Washington.
After Friday night’s game was postponed and moved to Saturday due to issues with the lighting at Parker Faller Field, Lake Washington’s big lead proved too much to overcome. A solo home run from third baseman Gage Thompson put Puyallup on the board in the sixth inning, but Lake Washington comfortably won, 8-1, to advance to the 4A state championship game later in the day.
“It’s a great feeling, man,” said Lake Washington pitcher and Oregon commit Shane Johnson, who started the game on Friday and pitched four shutout innings. “We worked our tails off, battled adversity a lot this year. Just excited, man.”
The game was billed as a potential pitcher’s duel between two of the state’s best in Johnson and Puyallup’s Mason Pike, but Lake Washington jumped on Pike early Friday, piling up all eight of its runs in the first three innings of the game.
“I honestly felt pretty good,” Pike said on Saturday. “They just put the barrel on the ball, so they did a good job.”
Pike walked two of the first three Lake Washington batters, which was uncharacteristic.
“Just didn’t get some pitches,” Puyallup coach Marc Wiese said. “That’s what happens sometimes. We ran into an extremely hot Lake Washington team. … He had walked 14 guys all year, something like that, and he’s a good command guy. He just didn’t get ahead.
“Again, you’ve just got to 100 percent tip your cap to Lake Washington and their hitters and what they did. It was explosive.”
Puyallup came into the game with a perfect 28-0 record and is the No. 2 ranked team in the country by MaxPreps. Lake Washington, meanwhile, entered the game with an 18-11 record. Considered by many a title contender prior to the season, Lake Washington was up and down all year, but the Kangs are peaking at the right time, clearly.
“I think it’s just the culture, man,” Johnson said. “You never wanna play the Kangs in May.”
Lake Washington will face Eastlake in the Class 4A state championship game, moved to 4 p.m. on Saturday. The third/fourth place consolation games for both 3A and 4A were cancelled by the WIAA to make room for the completion of the Puyallup-Lake Washington game and to avoid another night game on Saturday. The 3A state championship game between Kennewick and Mount Vernon will be played at 1 p.m.
Puyallup has been knocking on the door in recent years, reaching the state semifinal game twice and the state championship game twice in the past four seasons, but the Vikings have fallen short each time.
“This team has won as many games as any team has in state history,” Wiese said. “This game doesn’t dictate, not winning a state championship, their legacy. I’m proud of them. 28-1 and you know, it was bad timing to lose.”
