PORT ANGELES — A series of unfortunate events felled the Olympic Crosscutters in a 4-3 AA American Legion District 2 Tournament loss to Lower Columbia Silver.

Errors, a rare balk and nearly silent bats derailed the host Cutters on Friday at Civic Field.

The miscues started with Olympic holding a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth inning.

Starting pitcher Nigel Christian was cruising along with two outs and a runner on first, when shortstop Gavin Velarde failed to field what would have likely been the inning’s third out.

Dalton Mattison reached base on the error, and Christian followed with a balk to move the runners to second and third base.

Christian went up 0-2 in the count on Lower Columbia batter Alex Bacon, but Bacon battled back to force a full count, finally slicing an RBI double to the left-center gap.

Then Spencer Stone’s fly ball to shallow center field was dropped by Cutters’ left fielder Jake Sparks, allowing Silver to score two runs and take a 3-2 lead.

“And that’s what it comes down to,” Olympic coach John Qualls said.

“Our inability to get out of the inning when we should have kept it going for them, and they took advantage.”

The Cutters put one run across in the first inning when Christian walked, moved to second on a passed ball, stole third and scored on another passed ball.

Christian scored again in the fourth after reaching second base on an error.

He got a monster jump to pick up his second stolen base and scored on a Daniel Harker chopper down the third-base line.

After giving away the lead, Olympic tied the game at 3-all in the sixth.

“I liked that we continued to compete despite the errors,” Qualls said.

“That’s what we’ve worked on all year long, to take control of the things we have control over.”

Christian singled to center, moved to third on a wild throw to second base after a Lane Dotson grounder and scored on a hot shot RBI single through the gap between third base and shortstop from Logan Shaw.

It was the second hit for Shaw on the game, and one of just five total hits by the Cutters.

“I really liked the way he was seeing the ball today,” Qualls said.

“He had some good approaches, some great at-bats. Anytime you can go to the opposite field like that you know you are seeing the ball well.”

Harker loaded the bases, rapping a pitch up in the zone to left to load the bases with one out.

But that’s as far as Olympic would go offensively.

Designated hitter Tyrus Beckett popped out in the infield and Bailey Earley struck out swinging to end the threat.

“That’s your opportunity,” Qualls said.

“We didn’t take advantage.”

Lower Columbia did just that in its turn at the plate in the bottom half of the sixth.

Christian allowed a leadoff walk, the only free pass he yielded all game, to leadoff batter Yancy Bird.

Bird moved to second on a sacrifice bunt and third on a groundout.

Bacon then tapped an infield single up the middle just beating the throw to first from a ranging Cutters’ second baseman A.J. Prater.

Olympic managed to close the door defensively, but went meekly in its final turn at-bat in the seventh.

The loss ruined a solid all-around performance from Christian.

He scattered seven hits and struck out five batters in his six innings pitched.

“When Nigel can get behind in the count and he can continue to throw his offspeed and throw it with confidence I know he’s going to have great night,” Qualls said.

Christian also stole three bases to go with his three runs.

“It is a bummer when you have the opportunity [to win],” Qualls said.

“But I like the way they kept their composure. I like the way they are right now after the game, ready to go.”

The district tournament continues today at Civic Field.

Lower Columbia Silver 4,

Crosscutters 3

Crosscutters 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 ­— 3 5 3

LC Silver 0 0 0 3 0 1 x — 4 7 3

WP- St. Jean; LP- Christian

Pitching Statistics

Crosscutters: Christian 6 IP, 7 H, 4 R, ER, 5 K, BB.

LC Silver: St. Jean 7 IP, 5 H, 3 R, ER, 6 K, BB.

Hitting Statistics

Crosscutters: Christian 1-2, BB, 3 R, 3 SB; Shaw 2-3, RBI; Harker 1-3; Prater 1-4.

LC Silver: Bacon 1-3, 2 RBI, R.