'Cats upset GP, earn district berth | Baseball

Needing a win to guarantee a berth in the district tournament, the Oak Harbor baseball team upset Glacier Peak 8-2 in the final regular season game Tuesday, May 1, on the Wildcats' diamond.

Oak Harbor (6-10, 8-11), the No. 8 seed, plays at top-seeded Meadowdale at noon Saturday, May 5, to open the eight-team, double-elimination tournament.

Meadowdale has gone 14-1 since starting the season 0-4, including 1-0 and 21-13 wins over Oak Harbor April 20 and 24.

Depending on the outcome of today's Everett-Shorecrest game, Wesco 3A could end up with a three-way tie for second between Mountlake Terrace (11-5, 11-8), Glacier Peak (11-5, 13-7) and Shorecrest (10-5, 13-6); therefore, some of the seeding for district is undetermined.

Oak Harbor and Meadowdale play opposite No. 5 seed Ferndale (13-7) and the No. 4 seed (Wesco's third-place team).

The winners and losers pair up for games at 4 p.m. Tuesday, May 8. All games in the first two rounds are at the home of the higher seed.

Mount Vernon (17-0), the state's second-ranked 3A team, is the No. 3 seed. Shorewood (8-8, 9-11) is the seventh seed.

Oak Harbor scored in four of the first five innings and received a gutty pitching performance from Jack Richter in its big win over Glacier Peak.

The Wildcats got two runs in the first. Grant Schroeder singled and Sam Glavick and Richter walked to load the bases. A ground out by David Kusnick scored one run and a wild pitch plated another.

In the second, Oak Harbor made it 3-0. Nate Stanford and Anthony Stewart walked, then Schroeder bunted for a base hit to fill the bases. Sam Glavick singled in Stanford.

After a scoreless third, the Wildcats added three in the fourth. Stewart boarded on an error and moved to third on two ground outs and scored on another error, this one off the bat of Richter. Back-to-back doubles by Kusnick and Zach Zimmer scored a run each.

In the sixth, a walk and two errors loaded the bases. Glavick singled in one run and another scored on Richter's ground out.

Richter, making good pitches when he needed them, faced little trouble until the fifth when the Grizzlies loaded the bases on three consecutive hits with two outs. The third hit, a shot down the line, was knocked down by third baseman Stanford on a nice diving stop and prevented a run, maybe two, from scoring. Stanford then chested up a hard hit ball from the next batter and tagged third for the final out.

Glacier Peak finally broke through in the sixth. Two singles, an error and sacrifice fly produced two runs.

Schroeder, Glavick and Zimmer each finished with two hits.

Richter, who gave up no earned runs, is "very competitive," according to coach Tyson VanDam.

VanDam said when he visited his pitcher in the fifth with the bases load, Richter told him, "This is mine to lose."

Turned out, it was his to win.

Contact Whidbey News Times Sports editor Jim Waller at jwaller@whidbeynewsgroup.com or 360-675-6611 ext. 5060.

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