Sehome Baseball - PHOTOS: Doug Lange, Ted House & Greg Malo
Sehome Just 2 Wins Away From a Championship
May 24, 2019
Two wins.
That's all Sehome Baseball needs to be crowned the 2A state champs. The Mariners know it won't be an easy task as they begin their quest Friday with a semifinal match-up against Fife at Yakima County Stadium.
Sehome comes into the final four riding the momentum of two dramatic victories in the regional round of state last Saturday at Auburn High School. The Mariners came from behind not once, but twice, to beat Port Angeles 3-2 and followed that off with an early offensive explosion to down Columbia River 6-2.
The road to a state title is usually highlighted by heroics. Sehome saw that played out at the plate and on the mound at regionals.
Makana Grondin has continued his late season hot hitting. The senior hit the go-ahead 2-run homerun in the 6th inning and accounted for all 3 RBI's in the victory over Port Angeles. His success in game number 1 helped everybody else get into the act in game number 2 as the Mariners banged out 15 hits overall and plated 6 runs in the first inning versus Columbia River.
Jacob Kaepernick rolled to his 9th victory of the year versus with a gem versus the Roughriders last Saturday. The sophomore left gave up just 1 earned run on 7 hits, while striking out 5 and walking just 1 batter. Patrick Miskovsky followed that up by limiting Columbia River to just 2 runs on 5 hits in 6 innings of work.
So here Sehome is, chasing their 4th state championship. The last time they won it all was in 2008. As the Mariners get ready to play in the semifinals for the first time since 2011, head coach Monte Walton says he doesn't think his squad is just happy to be there.
"Hey we're here to win two and win a state championship and I think that's just the mindset of our guys right now and they have a lot of confidence and they're having a lot of fun together right now in practice and playing games," said Walton.
MORE: Listen to our interview with Sehome coach Monte Walton
First they have to get past a 21-and-3 Fife team that has lost just once in their last 16 games. The Trojans average over 8 runs per contest, while limiting their opponents to just over 2 per outing.
Fife is hunting for their first ever state championship. It's the 8th straight year they've made the state tournament, highlighted by a 4th place finish in 2016. The Trojans advanced by beating Lynden 7-2 and Liberty 5-4 last Saturday in Anacortes.
They're an experienced team even though they don't have a lot of seniors, I think they have one senior. They have tons of good athletes in every position, said Walton. "They've got some power and a heck of a number one pitcher. so we've got a big challenge ahead of us."
Sehome and Fife square off at 4:00pm. The winner moves on to the title game at 7:00pm on Saturday against a couple of tough opponents. Pick your poison from either perennial powerhouse Selah (22-2) who last won it all in 2016 or a team that already beat the Mariners back at districts in Archbishop Murphy (20-5).
- Doug Lange
