SPORTS WednesdayApril 17, 2013B4

THE ISSAQUAH PRESSTHE ISSAQUAH PRESSTHE ISSAQUAH PRESS

B4

By Lillian O’Rorkeltucker@sammamishreview.com

The Issaquah High School baseball team grabbed its fourth consecutive league-win April 10 when it came from behind at the bottom of the sixth inning to beat Redmond, 7-6.

“It was a good game,” said Justin Vernia, a senior at Issaquah High School. “The beginning was kind of slow. We weren’t all there. We weren’t very energetic, but as the game went on, we got more into it.”

The Issaquah Eagles started the game off with one run in the bottom of the first, but didn’t score again for the next three innings. After knocking down two runs in the third, Redmond was ahead 2-1.

Then, at the bottom of the fifth, Vernia hit a double to drive Mitchell Morimoto all the way home from first base, tying the game at 2-2.

The Redmond Mustangs quickly recovered the lead, shooting ahead at the top of the sixth with three runs, the last two of which were scored on deep hits to the outfield.

“We know they are a tough team,” said Alex Shimizu, who came in as Issaquah’s relief pitcher during the sixth inning. “They’ve been hitting the ball well, so I was trying to keep the ball low, get a lot of ground balls, try to get them out.”

Going into the bottom of the sixth, the Eagles only had two more chances to take the game. They only needed one.

First up was Issaquah senior Ryan Guiberson, who hit the ball just above the shortstop’s reach for a single. Nik Sutherland followed with a hit past the second baseman. With Redmond walking Jack Gellatly next, the bases were loaded. Redmond struck out the next batter before Derek Chapman

stepped up the plate and hit a single to drive Guiber-son home.

With the bases reloaded, Keegan Chaplin struck out. Recovering, Issaquah earned an automatic run when Redmond walked Morimoto. Only trailing by one run, Issaquah had two outs and the bases loaded when Vernia hit a double for three RBIs.

“Rounding first, I was pretty excited. And then, our coach, Bruce, was like, ‘Go, go, go,’” Vernia said. “I was kind bummed it didn’t go out, but it’s still a bases-clearing double, so that’s good enough.”

With two outs against them in the top of the seventh, the Mustangs had already scored one more and were closing in on Issaquah. With a runner on second, Milo Mincin stepped up to the plate for Redmond and connected with a pitch from Shimizu. The ball smacked Shimizu before being fielded by second baseman Chapman. In a fluid motion, he threw it to first. Mincin was out and Issaquah had won the game, 7-6.

“That was an exciting game,” Issaquah coach Rob Reese said. “The big thing was what a great play Keegan made. He had struck out with the bases loaded the previous inning, and didn’t take his offense out to his defense and made a great play out there. Basically saved the game right there.”

The second baseman ex-plained that he had to leave his disappointment about his plate performance in the dugout and concentrate on making plays in the field.

“It was a good win,” Chapman said. “That is really the first time we’ve had to come back this season from that far down, and I think that is going to go far as we continue in the season. Because we are going to be down again and we need to know how to come back from that.”

By Lillian O’Rorkeltucker@sammamishreview.com

It wasn’t just a matchup of neigh-boring plateau baseball teams April 8. It was a battle

between the leaders of KingCo’s two divisions when the Skyline Spar-tans edged out the East-lake Wolves in a single-run game.

“It was a couple good pitchers and some super defense out there. Two good teams,” Chris Tam-minen, head coach of the Spartans, said. “They [Eastlake] have some good senior leadership … and good talent. They are definitely a team that is going to be there in the end.”

Eastlake, which at 5-3 is No. 1 in the KingCo Crest Division, saw the return of 13 of its varsity players this year, includ-ing starting pitcher Josh Barokas. As of April 11, the Eastlake senior had an ERA of 0.60 with 19 strikeouts. During the game against Skyline, Barokas pitched all seven

innings, allowing only two hits, one run and zero walks, and had three strikeouts.

One run, however, was all the Spartans needed to claim victory in the 1-0 game.

Jason Santiago, a ju-nior at Skyline, was first to step up the plate at the top of the second inning. On a changeup from Barokas, he knocked it to the center field for a double.

“We knew that their pitcher is really good,” Santiago said. “I was looking for something in the zone that I could drive, something that I could hit hard.”

From second base, Santiago scored when teammate Ian Smith hit a line drive that smacked Barokas in the leg. An overthrow at first while Santiago was rounding third automati-cally put Skyline on the board. No one would score again.

“Going into it, we didn’t know it would be a one-run game,” Santiago said. “You feel a surge to just try and do something for your team, but when no one is scoring runs, it’s kind of like the game is frozen.”

By the bottom of the seventh, the game could have gone either way. Eastlake was at bat with

two outs and runners on second and third. With a batting average of .366, Eastlake senior Michael Staudinger stepped up to the plate. Skyline’s Drew Lunde had taken over pitching and whittled Staudinger down to one ball, two strikes.

“I had to get ahead of the batter,” Lunde said. After being told by his catcher that Staudinger had already hit two curveballs that game, Lunde explained that he decided to throw him a fast ball.

It worked. Staudinger struck out. The game was over.

“It felt great,” Lunde said. “It’s a huge rivalry. It’s a huge game for us. Especially being that close at the end, it really shows the character of our team being able to win these close games.”

Lunde had taken over pitching for Corbin Pow-ers, who has an ERA of 0.70 with 22 strikeouts. Against Eastlake, the Skyline senior pitched six innings with just as many hits, four strikeouts and one walk.

“Giving up six hits is kind of a lot for me, but knowing my defense had my back was a help for me,” Powers said. “It was a huge team effort.”

Heading into the bottom of the sixth inning April 8, the Skyline High School soft-ball team was leading East-lake, 2-1, but by the inning’s end it had fallen to 6-2.

The Skyline Spartans first pulled ahead of their plateau neighbors in the top of the fifth by scoring two runs, including one by senior Charlotte Zhao, who went 3 for 4 with a double.

Victory quickly slipped through Skyline’s hands in the bottom of the sixth, though, when Eastlake scored five runs, in part

boosted by a ground ball hit between first and sec-ond base and fumbled in the outfield.

“It’s hard, because we work so hard during the season, just to let it go at the end like that. It’s just the errors. And, you know, we can recover from them,” Skyline senior shortstop Megan Burris said. “We’ve had games like this before, and we’ve come out and won. It was just one of those days where we couldn’t come back afterwards.”

By Christina Corrales-Toynewcastle@isspress.com

On a cold, drizzly Friday night, the home stands at Interlake High School’s soccer stadium were nearly empty. The bleachers on the visitors’ side, however, were comparably lined with loyal Liberty soccer sup-porters, huddled in blan-kets, holding umbrellas and shouting, “Go blue.”

The Liberty fans did not fill the entire visiting section, but the supporters’ dedica-tion on an April 12 game day, during spring break no less, showed that the Patriots’ boys soccer team is definitely worth rooting for.

Liberty easily gave them something to cheer for, soundly defeating Interlake, 4-0, to remain undefeated with a 9-0-1 record.

“It was a good game, but I don’t think it was our best,” Liberty coach Darren Trem-blay said. “We have high expectations, so we always want to get better and better. I saw a lot of great things, but still some things to work on.”

Liberty forward Tyler Jensen put the Patriots on the board first, scoring the only goal the team would need in the 29th minute.

“I was really lucky that I made that since it was kind of a little cheeky chip,” he said with a smile.

The Patriots would put another point on the board just before the half with a Ryan Graham goal in the 34th minute. Tremblay said he was particularly pleased with Graham’s perfor-mance, given that he was forced into a different role, since a few of the team’s starters were out of town.

“Ryan Graham in the middle, he’s usually a defender, stepped up and played center-mid for us, which is out of position for him, and he did a great job,” Tremblay said.

Liberty would go on to score two more goals, when senior Josh Johnson found the net in the 65th and 75th minute.

Senior Nate Mak and soph-omore Quinn Magendanz combined for the shutout.

It was yet another win for Liberty, which is ranked third in the state, according to Score Czar. Score Czar offers computer rankings based solely on numbers.

“Right now, it doesn’t

Interlake, rain can’t

stop Liberty boys soccer

UP NEXTLiberty vs. Lake Washington47:30 p.m. April 194Liberty High School

The Sammamish Tennis Club played its final match Feb. 28, but went out with a bang, according to a press release from the club. In a tournament held in Chat-tanooga, Tenn., from March 20-24, the Sammamish Tennis Club mixed doubles team secured a National Tennis Championship title.

After competing in re-gional and Pacific North-west qualifying competi-tions, the Sammamish Tennis Club was one of 16 teams invited to Chat-

tanooga to compete for the national title, selected from more than 600 national teams. Local players Mick Jaeger, Sharon Jaeger, Kelly Terry, Mark Bennett, Yuko Matsuda, Bill Hubbard and Jed Moffitt, won four team matches over the course of two days to qualify for a spot in the finals.

Mick Jaeger served out a 6-1, 6-4 victory on the deciding court to give the Sammamish team a hard-fought win and the champi-onship banner.

Sammamish Tennis Club wins national championship

BY LILLIAN O’RORKE

Riley Davidson, Skyline High School junior infielder, steps up to bat against Eastlake April 8.

Skyline error proves costly to Eastlake See SOCCER, Page B5

BY LILLIAN O’RORKE

Corbin Powers, Skyline High School senior, pitches against Eastlake April 8, allowing just six hits with four strikeouts and one walk in six innings en route to a 1-0 Spartans win.

SIZZLING SPARTANSSkyline wins

battle of division leaders in 1-0

win over Eastlake

See BASEBALL, Page B5

Issaquah rallies to beat Redmond, 7-6

BY LILLIAN O’RORKE

Justin Vernia, Issaquah High School senior, hits his 3-RBI dou-ble to take the lead in the sixth inning for a come-from-behind, 7-6 victory April 10 against Redmond.