SPOKANE — Port Angeles and Sequim went one-and-out at the Class 2A state baseball tournament, but both teams had noble ends to their seasons.
The Roughriders fell to Ephrata 2-1 in 12 innings at Ferris High School in Spokane on Saturday.
The Wolves took a scoreless tie into the final inning before allowing three runs to Ellensburg to lose 3-0 in the rain at Wheeler Field in Centralia.
Quilcene also lost its 1B state regional opener, falling 5-2 to Naselle in Anacortes.
Port Angeles and Ephrata each scored a run in the fifth inning, but neither had another until the Tigers scored with one out in the bottom of the 12th.
“It was a great game,” Riders coach Vic Reykdal said.
“I kept trotting over to the third-base side and talked to their coach, and we were both going, ‘Somebody’s going to lose this game and be really sad, and someone’s going to win this game and be really happy.’
“It’s one of those that you hate to see either team lose.
“We scratched and battled.”
Travis Paynter started on the mound for the Riders and struck out eight while allowing four hits and walking three in seven innings.
Curan Bradley took over in the extra innings and struck out 10 and gave up four hits in 4 1/3 innings. He had four walks, but two of those were intentional.
Pinch runner Daniel Williams scored Port Angeles’ only run when he came around from second base on Colton McGuffey’s single in the top of the fifth inning.
That gave the Riders a 1-0 lead, but Ephrata tied the score in its half of the fifth.
The Tigers applied more offensive pressure than did the Riders in the extra innings, but Bradley and the Port Angeles defense managed to survive — in one inning, shortstop Luke Angevine made a diving catch that Reykdal called “unbelievable” — until a bloop single brought in the winning run.
Port Angeles, meanwhile, had three extra-inning base hits snuffed out by nifty catches by Ephrata’s outfielders. Reykdal said a couple of those almost-hits were sure to score runs.
“I’ve got to tip my hat to their outfielders,” Reykdal said.
“We barrel some balls and just can’t get anything out of it, and we lose on a bloop single over the shortshop’s head. And it was one of those in-betweeners, so the outfielder doesn’t have a chance to throw him out at home.
“Like I told the kids: that’s baseball. It’s just not fair, we hammer some balls that would have given us lead, and then win on a little bloop single.”
McGuffey had three of Port Angeles’ six hits in Saturday’s game.
The Riders finish the season 19-6. They went 9-3 and placed second in the Olympic League 2A Division.
“They were a team that . . . wanted to make their mark on Port Angeles baseball, and they definitely did,” Reykdal said.
“They are really a great, talented baseball team, no doubt about it. It’s not easy to win 19 games, and they did.”
The Riders lose 11 seniors — including their top four pitchers, Travis Paytner, Bradley, Janson Pederson and Ryan Rodocker — but Reykdal likes the players returning in 2017, including Colton McGuffey, a catcher who will pitch next year, and infielders Angevine, Ben Basden and Noah McGoff.
“We really have a great nucleus coming back,” Reykdal said.
Ephrata 2, Port Angeles 1, 12 innings
Port Angeles 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 1 6 2
Ephrata 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 — 2 8 0
LP- Bradley
Pitching Statistics
Port Angeles: Paynter 7 IP, 4 H, R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 8 K; Bradley 4 1/3 IP, 4 H, R, 4 BB, HBP, 10 K.
Hitting Statistics
Port Angeles: McGuffey 3-5, RBI; Gochnour 1-2, R; Basden 1-5; Pederson 1-4.
Ellensburg 3, Sequim 0
CENTRALIA — Four straight walks to open the seventh inning broke the scoreless tie and helped set up two more Bulldogs runs in the unrelenting rain at Wheeler Field.
“The defense played really well,” Sequim coach Dave Ditlefsen said.
“[James] Grubb threw a great game, and our defense made plays behind him to get out of innings where we were threatened.
“Scoreless going into the seventh inning, you can’t ask anything more of your pitcher and defense.”
Xander Orejudos held the Wolves to five hits in Saturday’s 2A state regional round.
“We ran into a real good pitcher,” Ditlefsen said. “Despite getting shut out, I thought we had pretty good at-bats, we put the ball in play.”
James Thayer had two of Sequim’s hits.
Grubb pitched into the seventh inning, striking out six and walking 11.
Despite the rain and mud, the Wolves didn’t commit a single error.
“It didn’t let up once during the game. But it was the same for [Ellensburg], too,” Ditlefsen said of the rain.
“So for us to play as well as we did defensively in those conditions . . . is fantastic.
“I’m really proud of the way the kids played. There’s no shame in going down playing good baseball.”
The Wolves (14-9) lose seven seniors, many who were three-year starters, from a team that finished fourth in Olympic League 2A but then earned the District 2/3 Tournament co-championship.
“We played our best baseball at end of year, and when you do that you have a chance to go far,” Ditlefsen said.
Returning next season are Grubb, Gavin Velarde, Justin Porter, James Thayer and Austin Hilliard.
“We definitely have a good core coming back,” Ditlefsen said.
Ellensburg 3, Sequim 0
Ellensburg 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 — 3 5 2
Sequim 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 5 0
WP- Orejudos; LP- Grubb
Pitching Statistics
Ellensburg: Orejudos 7 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 10 K.
Sequim: Grubb 6 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 11 BB, HBP, 6 K; Hilliard IP, H, R, HBP..
Hitting Statistics
Ellensburg: Orejudos 1-3; Helgeson 1-4; G. Gibson 1-2, R; Kjorsvik 1-3, 2 RBI; Townsend 1-3.
Sequim: Velarde 1-4; Porter 1-4; Thayer 1-3; Grubb 2-3.
Naselle 5, Quilcene 2
ANACORTES — The Rangers’ hitters threatened but couldn’t follow through enough to beat the Comets in the Class 1B state regional round at Daniels Field.
“As a coach, I’ve participated in a game like this a few times. You hope a game like this doesn’t happen in a loser-out setting,” Quilcene coach Darrin Dotson said.
“We hit the ball, [got] lots of guys on base in different innings, but could never sustain an inning with more than two hits — [we] only had two innings where we accomplished that.
“When we had runners on base, it was always with two outs.”
Zack Collins had two hits and drove in a run and Eli Harrison tripled for Quilcene.
As a team, the Rangers tallied eight hits in Saturday’s game.
“Statistically, we beat Naselle on the books. [That] includes allowing more walks,” Dotson said.
“We gave up nine walks as a team and Naselle gave up zero. Three runs scored as a result of walks — difference in the game.”
Quilcene (15-5) won its second straight SeaTac League title and advanced to the state playoffs for the first time since 2013.
“We’re still building, you don’t have the success we’ve had out of luck,” Dotson said.
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Compiled using team reports. Coaches can submit reports and statistics to sports@peninsualdailynews.com.