Nate Packard’s clutch hit rallies Emerald Ridge past powerhouse Puyallup, 4-2

No dogpile at second base, shaving cream pie or fireworks.

But there was a 63-year-old chest bumping a high schooler.

That was Emerald Ridge High School baseball coach Larry Marshall, who was understandably thrilled after his Jaguars handed powerhouse Puyallup a 4-2 defeat for its first in-state loss of the season.

He said it’s been probably 10 years since he last did one of those.

Nate Packard rocketed a double off the right-field wall with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning. That scored three runs and gave Emerald Ridge a 4-2 lead before Andrew Curran escaped a bases-loaded jam in the seventh to finally dent Puyallup in its quest for a ninth consecutive league title.

“It couldn’t be a better ending to an era of playing Puyallup,” Packard said. “It was perfect.”

No player for Emerald Ridge had ever experienced a victory over Puyallup. The Jaguars (12-4, 6-2 4A SPSL South) had lost their past seven meetings with their crosstown rival dating back to 2012.

Marshall said he played the team a video during practice Tuesday of Puyallup players dogpiling at second base following the Vikings’ 7-6 walk-off win against ER on April 8.

“I said, ‘You know what? I don’t get disappointed with that or get upset. I just look at the excitement for the game that was played that night and how well we competed,’ ” Marshall said.

“But I’d like to see that again, only I’d like to see the green guys doing it.”

Puyallup (13-4, 8-1 4A SPSL South) is still in the driver’s seat for its 10th league title in 11 years, leading Emerald Ridge by two games and Rogers (10-7, 6-3) by three games with three to play.

Puyallup plays Rogers, its other crosstown rival, at 7 p.m. Friday at Heritage Park. Puyallup’s only other losses this season came against three California teams.

“(Puyallup coach) Marc Wiese and I spent a lot of time talking when I got this job (three years ago) that we really wanted baseball in the city of Puyallup to be recognized,” Marshall said. “I credit Marc for a lot of stuff. He’s a competitor. He hates to lose. I jumped right on board with him, and we are doing everything we can in the city of Puyallup to make baseball a dominant sport.”

Marshall tried to remove starting pitcher Chad Gideon from the game on multiple occasions. Only to be told off.

Gideon lasted 6 1/3 innings and allowed two runs — both unearned. Puyallup’s Ryan Teague tied the game at 1-1 with a double to center field in the third inning, and the Vikings took the lead on an error in the fourth.

“The guy on the mound … he had the heart of a bull,” Marshall said. “He just said, ‘Coach, that’s why you put me out here today.”

Packard’s shot was only the second hit of the game for Emerald Ridge, and the only one to leave the infield.

Puyallup pitcher Michael Newstrom didn’t allow an earned run in six innings. The Vikings committed their third error when second baseman Collin Wolf bobbled a sharp grounder off the bat of Dominik Zombik near the bag.

It would have ended the inning, but instead allowed Packard to bat with the bases loaded.

That came after Gideon escaped the fourth inning with back-to-back strikeouts with runners at second and third, got out of the fifth with a one-out bases-loaded double play and the sixth inning after a batter-interference call that led to the final two outs.

Gideon attributed that to Krystal Skoda, the mother of Logan Skoda, a junior who played quarterback for the Emerald Ridge football team this past fall, and Kort Skoda, a former Emerald Ridge baseball player who last fall was a junior linebacker at Pacific Lutheran University.

The team wore black socks the opposite leg of their green socks for her. Krystal Skoda died Tuesday night after a bout with cancer.

“It’s not so much a huge deal because of who we were playing, but the biggest deal was that (win) was for Krystal Skoda,” Gideon said. “This was for her. Her husband, Jeff, was a super motivational guy for me when I played football my sophomore year.

“I just felt her out there with me. When they bobbled the ball at second base that would have ended the game, I just knew that was her.”

This story was originally published April 21, 2016 at 9:27 AM with the headline "Nate Packard’s clutch hit rallies Emerald Ridge past powerhouse Puyallup, 4-2."