PORT LUDLOW — Port Angeles edged out Chimacum in a showdown between the two North Olympic Peninsula boys golf powerhouse teams at the Port Ludlow Invitational.
The Roughriders shot 230 to the Cowboys’ 238 to defend their 2012 Port Ludlow championship.
Both teams are closing out league championships in their respective conferences, 2A Olympic League for Port Angeles and 1A Nisqually League for Chimacum.
Both teams are undefeated in dual league matches for the season and are the cream of the crop on the Peninsula.
The tournament, hosted by the Cowboys on their home course, was a two-man best ball this year, which was a change from the event’s normal tournament format.
“This event required some strategy because of its different format,” Port Angeles coach Mark Mitrovich said.
The format required three two-player teams per school with the low score per two-man team used on each hole.
“Proper pairing and team work is important in this kind of format,” Mitrovich said.
The coach discussed the pairing with his players, and together they all came up with a winning strategy.
“We have a very flexible team,” Mitrovich said. “They enact well with each other, and they support each other.
“And they really like each other.”
The pairings worked out perfectly for the Riders as No. 1 Joe Barnes and No. 6 Micah Needham combined for medalist honors with a combined score of 73 in the 18-hole event with a 72 par.
“We talked about how par would be a very good score for this course,” Mitrovich said.
“Port Ludlow is a very beautiful but a very challenging course.”
The course features lots and lots of water and some difficult angles, the coach said.
The Port Angeles pairing of Alex Atwell and Austin Underwood shot 77 for third place.
“Alex and Austin are a solid No. 3 and No. 4 for us,” Mitrovich said.
Chimacum’s top dual of Nathan Browning and Kevin Miller shot 76 for runner-up honors while teammates Riley Downs and Jack Hilt had a combined 78 for fourth place.
Garrett Payton and Alex Brown, No. 2 and No. 5 for Port Angeles, tied for fifth place with an 80.
The only other twosome to shoot 80 or below were Drake Baker and Derrick Baker of Bremerton, who tied for fifth with 80.
Not far behind were Chimacum’s James Porter and Marcus Bufford with a combined 84.
“Mitro [Mitrovich] tells me that this is one of the nicest groups of players to coach in his long history as a golf coach,” Chimacum coach Mitch Black said.
“They seem like great guys, fine people and competitors. I know I can say the same for my Chimacum team.”
Sequim also played in the tourney but had only three players and didn’t qualify for a team score.
Sequim’s top two golfers, Travis Priest and Jack Shea, combined for an 83 for 10th place.
All Olympic League teams next will play in the Olympic League Tournament today at Gold Mountain Golf Course in Bremerton.
Action starts at 11:48 a.m. with 54 players competing, the top six from all nine teams in league.
The top seven from today’s meet earn automatic state berths and the next 11 advance to the West Central District meet May 13.
That means the top 18 today will continue their seasons while the rest go home.
“If we play it right, we can get four to advance,” Mitrovich said, “and if Micah gets hot, five.”
Of course, all golfers have to be on their game to have a shot to advance, but the Riders are deep and they have shown that they can be an effective bunch if they’re on.
“Our goal for [today] is to survive [by finishing in the top 18],” Mitrovich said.
On Friday, Port Angeles and Chimacum will compete in the Bill Egbers Memorial Tournament at Skagit Valley.
Girls Golf
Sequim 275,
Port Angeles 299
SEQUIM — Dana Fox of Port Angeles earned medalist honors but the rival Sequim Wolves out-shot the Roughriders 275-299 to win the Olympic League dual meet at Cedars at Dungeness Golf Course.
Fox shot a 49 on Dungeness’ front nine while Sequim’s Brianna Kettel was two shots back for second at 51.
Sequim’s top three golfers all were within three shots of each other as Elisa Sallee was right behind Kettel for third place with 52 and Maddy Fisher took fourth with 55.
Kate Haworth of Port Angeles earned fifth with a 56 while Sequim’s Annika Lawrence took sixth with 58 and teammate Caitlin Stofferahn was right behind in seventh with 59 to conclude scoring for the Wolves.
Taylor Rutz and Kylee Jeffers tied for eighth place with scores of 63 each while teammate Brittany McBride took 10th with a score of 68.
Sequim’s Kailee Price would have taken eighth place with her 60 if it counted toward the team score.
The Roughriders are now 5-3 in league for fourth place in the standings while Sequim improves to 6-1, currently in third.
Both schools will travel to Gold Mountain Golf Course in Bremerton today for the Olympic League tournament.
The top performers earn seeding in the 2A state tournament while the next tier of performers will advance to the West Central District tournament with a second chance to earn state berths.
Boys Soccer
Sequim 1,
North Mason 0, OT
SEQUIM — Freshman midfielder Tyler Ebert of Sequim couldn’t have scored his first high school varsity goal at a better time.
Ebert scored one minute into a scoreless overtime to spark the Wolves to a crucial win over the Bulldogs in Olympic League action Tuesday night.
The Wolves, currently in third place in league, will travel to fourth-place Olympic tonight. A win would give Sequim third place outright.
The Wolves finish up the regular season at home against North Kitsap on Monday.
If Sequim finishes in third place, it will play at 11 a.m. on May 11 at Silverdale in the regional playoffs.
A fourth-place finish would put the Wolves in a playoff game at Foster High School on May 11.
Against North Mason, the Wolves outshot the Bulldogs 13-7 but just couldn’t get the ball in the net until overtime.
“It was an evenly fought game,” Sequim coach Dave Brasher said.
Ebert came through with the winning shot in sudden-death overtime on a Nicholas Baird assist.
Freshman goalkeeper Austin Wagner had three saves for the Wolves.
Diego Cisneros, Dorian Halverson and Baird all had strong midfield games at the end for Sequim, Brasher said.
Olympic 5,
Port Townsend 3
PORT TOWNSEND — Nick Silberman’s hat trick wasn’t enough for the Redskins to pull off an Olympic League victory over one the team just above them in the standings.
Silberman scored in the 29th minute to even the score at 1-1.
He scored another equalizer in the 37th minute — one minute after Trent’n Pajimula put Olympic ahead — but a minute later the Trojans scored again to take a 3-2 lead into halftime.
Silberman scored his final goal in the 74th minute.
Port Townsend (6-8, 19 points) still has one league match remaining — Monday at home against Kingston — but will first play either Cascade Christian or Charles Wright in a 1A district playoff play-in game at Charles Wright Academy in Tacoma on Saturday.
Softball
Sequim 27, Klahowya 2
SILVERDALE — The perfect Wolves (14-0, 15-0) are ending the Olympic League regular season on a high note with a second completely dominating game in the past three games.
Sequim ripped Olympic 28-2 on senior night last Friday and followed that up with a 9-1 shellacking of North Mason on Monday, and now the 25-run margin over the Eagles on Tuesday.
The Sequim bats were on fire against Klahowya as the Wolves produced four home runs, two triples, five doubles and a total of 22 hits.
MaryLu Clift led the way with two homers, a triple, seven RBI and four runs scored.
Alexas Besand had a homer, four RBI and four runs while Shelby Lott had the other homer, three RBI and three runs.
Bailey Rhodefer hit the other triple and scored a run while Olivia Kirsch smacked two doubles with two RBI and three runs.
Rylleigh Zbaraschuk also had two doubles, and had an RBI and scored two runs.
The other double went to Melissa Lewis, who had an RBI and three runs.
Hannah Grubb, who hit three runs in and scored three runs, also stole a base.
Lewis, who started on the mound, went the distance, striking out three and walking none while giving up just one earned run in the complete-game five-inning effort.
The Wolves next travel to Port Townsend for senior night today. This game was moved up from May 6.
Eatonville 12, Chimacum 0
CHIMACUM — Mallori Cossell earned a triple and went 2 for 2 in the Nisqually League game but Eatonville ran away with the victory.
The Cowboys had some strong defense, though, as Krista Hathaway had two solo plays at first while Cydney Nelson made three defensive plays from shortstop and two from the pitcher’s mound, including a double play that went from pitcher to first base, and then first to home plate for the tag.
The Cowboys next will host Port Angeles in nonleague action Friday.
Quilcene 6,
Wishkah Valley 1
QUILCENE — Sammy Rae outdueled Loggers ace Teagan Louthan to give the Rangers a win against a strong nonleague 1B opponent.
Rae struck out 15 and held the Loggers to two hits over seven innings.
“It was a typical performance for Sammy,” Quilcene coach Mark Thompson said.
Celsea Hughes started Quilcene’s scoring with an RBI bunt in the bottom of the first inning, and Megan Weller’s RBI double made it 2-0.
The Rangers added three unearned runs in the fifth inning.
Two Quilcene batters struck out but reached base after Wishkah Valley’s backup catcher — the starting catcher injured her finger in the previous inning — was unable to corral Louthan’s pitches.
“We took advantage of their mistakes, which what good teams do,” Thompson said.
Alex Johnsen drove in a run with a double in the sixth inning to close out the scoring.
Quilcene (1-0, 9-3) hosts Taholah today in another nonleague matchup.
Quilcene 6, Wishkah Valley 1
Wishkah Valley 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 — 1 2 3
Quilcene 2 0 0 0 3 1 x — 6 6 2
WP- Rae; LP- Louthan
Pitching Statistics
Wishkah Valley: Louthan 6IP, 7K, 3BB.
Quilcene: Rae 7IP, 15K.
Hitting Statistics
Wishkah Valley: Warren, RBI.
Quilcene: Johnsen 1-3, 2B, RBI; Weller 1-3, 2B, RBI; Hughes, RBI; Mason 1-3; Viloria 1-3; Ward 1-2.
Baseball
Chimacum 9,
Eatonville 5
CHIMACUM — Alex Morris drove in three runs to lead the Cowboys to a Nisqually League win over the Cruisers.
Casey Settje drove in a pair of runs and Kolby Schreier scored two for Chimacum (4-10, 4-12).
Myles Hundley earned the win by striking out five in 6 1/3 inning on the mound.
The Cowboys host close out their season with a home game against Bellevue Christian today.
Chimacum 9, Eatonville 5
Eatonville 0 1 1 0 1 0 2 — 5 4 2
Chimacum 0 0 4 0 3 2 x — 9 10 4
WP- Hundley
Pitching Statistics
Chimacum: Hundley 6 1/3IP, 5K, 4BB.
Hitting Statistics
Eatonville: Weinholz 2-4.
Chimacum: Morris 2-4, 3RBI; Settje 1-4, 2RBI; Schreier 2-2, 2R.
Sequim 9,
Klahowya 2
SILVERDALE — The Wolves closed out their season by pounding the Eagles.
Brandon Jones had two hits and drove in three runs for Sequim.
Austin Clement knocked a couple of hits and scored and drove in a run, and Jon Donahue had two RBI.
The Wolves came out swinging, plating three runs in the first inning and five in the second to jump out to a quick 8-0 lead.
Nick Johnston earned the win for Sequim (5-11, 7-11).
The young Wolves will sit out the postseason, but they finished the season on a high note with two road wins on consecutive days against postseason contenders.
They beat North Mason (7-9, 10-9) on Monday to end the Bulldogs playoff hopes, followed by Klahowya (8-8, 9-11), which claimed the fifth and final spot in the Olympic League tournament.