KENT — Wilder Baseball is playing in the regional championship bracket today, just two wins away from the World Series.
That’s quite the turnaround after starting the Senior Babe Ruth 18U regional tournament with a disappointing 2-1 loss to the Siskiyou Jaxx of Yreka, Calif., despite Cole Uvila of Port Angeles and Michael Dean of Forks combining for a no-hitter Thursday morning.
Since then, though, Wilder is on fire after winning three consecutive games by the combined score of 36-8 at Kent Memorial Park.
The elite team made up of players from all over the North Olympic and Kitsap peninsulas, started the tourney like the Seattle Mariners offensively with only three hits in that first game.
Quickly shedding the frustration of that first loss, though, Wilder turned into the New York Yankees offensively, blasting their next three opponents to capture first place in its pool.
Wilder ripped the Vancouver, Wash., Jayhawks 15-4 Thursday night, then stomped the Wyoming state champion 12-1 on Friday before bombarding Washington state champion Columbia Basin River Dogs of Moses Lake 9-3 on Sunday morning.
“The kids did a good job after losing that first game,” Wilder manager Rob Merritt said.
“We wanted to be playing on the last day [today], and give ourselves a chance [to win it all].”
The Jayhawks and Wyoming games were mercy-rule six-inning contests.
The River Dogs had beaten Wilder twice at the state tournament the weekend before, and had come into the final pool-play game undefeated while Wilder was 2-1.
“The River Dogs could have still won the pool even if we won the game,” Merritt said.
That’s because both teams would be tied at 3-1, and the tie-breaker was the amount of runs allowed in the tourney up to that point.
The River Dogs were three runs ahead of Wilder going into the game. The Moses Lake team had given up just four runs in three games while Wilder had given up seven.
“We had to outscore them by four runs to win pool,” Merritt said.
Wilder did that and then some in the 9-3 rout.
As the No. 1 seed, Wilder was set to play the loser between either Calgary, Alberta, or Granite Falls in the championship semifinals today for the right to play in the championship game.
Calgary and Granite Falls were set to play later Sunday for first place in their pool. Results weren’t available by press time.
Both teams were 1-2 going into the final pool game after the Portland Baseball Team pulled out of the first-place game because the manager was disciplining his players after they broke team rules Saturday night.
Portland, the defending regional champion, had a 3-0 record in pool play at that point.
Portland had beaten Wilder for the regional title last year in Port Angeles.
Today’s semifinal winners meet in the regional championship game at 4 p.m.
Game Two
Easton Napiontek of Port Angeles threw a complete-game three-hitter for Wilder in the second game against the Jayhawks.
Napiontek (3-1) struck out 11 in the six-inning game while walking two and giving up just the three hits and two earned runs.
The Jayhawks led 4-2 after three innings but Wilder blew the game open with five runs each in the fourth and fifth innings, and three in the sixth.
At the plate, leadoff batter Justin Straight of Poulsbo went 2 for 2 with two RBIs, scoring four runs while walking once and getting hit by a pitch.
Port Angeles catcher Marcus Konopaski went 2 for 3 with two RBIs and three runs while George Marinan of Kingston was 3 of 5 with six RBIs, and a bases-loaded double.
Clark Rose went 2 for 4 with two runs and an RBI.
Game Three
Port Townsend’s Kyle Kelly (6-1) went the distance against Wyoming, striking out seven and walking none while giving up just one earned run on three hits. He also hit a batter.
Straight blasted a two-run homer, went 2 for 4 and scored two runs while Napiontek went 1 for 1 with an RBI-double, and he also scored four runs.
Marinan was 2 for 4 with two RBIs and a run while both Rose and Kelly went 1 for 3 each.
Kelly had a two-RBI double while Rose knocked two runs in.
Game Four
Wilder was ahead 9-0 before the River Dogs scored their first run in Sunday’s game.
Straight (2-0) pitched the first six innings, striking out four while giving up five hits and five walks, while Rose and Dean combined to throw the final inning.
Brady Konopaski went 2 for 3 with two RBIs while Uvila and Marinan had a hit each.
Uvila had an rBI and scored a run while Marinan also scored one run.
Game Two
Wilder 15, Jayhawks 4
Wilder 1 1 0 5 5 3 — 15 11 2
Jayhawks 0 1 3 0 0 0 — 4 3 1
WP- Napiontek (3-1)
Pitching Statistics
Wilder: Napiontek 6 IP, 11 K, 3 H, 2 ER, 2 BB.
Hitting Statistics
Wilder: Straight 2-2, 4 R, BB, HBP; Marcus Konopaski 2-3, 3 R, 2 RBIs; Marinan 3-5, 6 RBIs, 2B; Rose 2-4, 2 R, RBI; .
Game Three
Wilder 12, Wyoming 1
Wilder 2 0 3 5 0 2 — 12 7 1
Jayhawks 1 0 0 0 0 0 — 1 3 1
WP- Kelly (6-1)
Pitching Statistics
Wilder: Kelly 6 IP, 7 K, 3 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, HB.
Hitting Statistics
Wilder: Straight 2-4, HR, 2 R; Napiontek 1-1, 2B, 4 R, RBI; Marinan 2-4, 2 RBIs, R; Rose 1-3, 2 RBIs; Kelly 1-3, 2B, 2 RBIs.
Game Four
Wilder 9, River Dogs 3
Wilder 2 3 4 0 0 0 0 — 9 7 3
River Dogs 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 — 3 7 2
WP- Straight (2-0)
Pitching Statistics
Wilder: Straight 6 IP, 4 K, 5 H, BB 5, HB; Rose 2/3 IP; Dean 1/3 P.
Hitting Statistics
Wilder: Marinan 1-2, R; Uvila 1-4, RBI, R; B. Konopaski 2-3, 2 RBIs.