Story Photos
 Lower Columbia second baseman Sean Winston scrambles to his left to field a ground ball during Monday's first game against Edmonds in the NWAACC Championships at David Story Field. Roger Werth / The Daily News
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Tritons turn two, take title
Tuesday, May 27, 2008 9:09 AM PDT
By Rick McCorkle
Printable version
E-mail this articleOne pitch is all it takes to separate winning and losing baseball teams.
Just ask the Lower Columbia College Red Devils.
With two outs in the ninth inning, LCC closer Brooks Lindsley hung a 3-2 breaking pitch that Dan Ninomiya of Edmonds hit into center field to bring home the tying run in the first championship game of the NWAACC Baseball Championships at David Story Field on Monday.
Edmonds later scored the game-winning run in the 13th inning to topple previously unbeaten LCC 4-3 and force a second title tilt, which went to Edmonds 6-4 in the double-elimination tournament.
"Brooks threw a great 3-2 breaking ball to the tournament MVP, who came up with the hit of his life up the middle to score the tying run," LCC coach Kelly Smith said. "That was a great pitch, and that's what is unfair about the game of baseball."
The championship game sweep gave second-ranked Edmonds (38-9) its sixth tournament title in school history. Third-ranked LCC (30-20) claimed its 12th runner-up trophy, the sixth under Smith.
"My guys haven't experienced this before and it'll be hard to tell them the right things after it's over," Smith lamented. "For Hip (LCC pitching coach Rob Hippi) and I, it's really old and the heartbreak doesn't get any better. We're still haunted by the first time we finished second (2000).
Edmonds 6, Lower Columbia 4:
LCC starter Brian Erickson and reliever Luke Zirkle combined to check Edmonds on three hits in Friday's 5-1 victory over the Tritons, but the Devil duo didn't have the same luck in the second championship game.
Erickson, a sophomore from Australia via Federal Way, lasted seven batters before he was lifted for Zirkle. Of the batters he faced, Erickson gave up three hard-hit balls to left, center and right-center fields, walked two batters and allowed a sacrifice fly to deep center.
Zirkle got the first batter he faced to ground into a fielder's choice to end the first inning, but the second frame was his downfall.
Cam Softli legged out an infield single to start the inning, but was later thrown out at second when he tried to move up on a botched pickoff throw from Erickson that sailed over first baseman Shawn Peterson's head and off the protective fence in front of the Edmonds dugout. Peterson gathered up the ball and gunned down Softli as he slid into second.
Ben Thielson coaxed a walk, and after a groundout, Kirby Young launched a 1-0 pitch that sailed over the L&J Feed sign above the right-field fence.
"We didn't think about starting Mike (Greene) because we had Erickson and Zirkle available," Hippi said. "Unfortunately, they weren't as good today as they were on Friday. Zirkle shouldn't have been tired since he hadn't pitched since Friday when he came in for three innings. He doesn't have the best stuff in the league, but he competes. He did a good job of that today, but he got the ball up a few times."
Prior to Young's bomb, the Devils scored twice in the top of the second inning to cut Edmonds' lead to 3-2. Shawn Peterson and Bo Lybeck swatted back-to-back singles, each runner moved up when Edmonds pitcher Tyler Rice was called for a balk, and Peterson scored on a groundout from Tyler Davis.
Nic Shadle was hit by a pitch, and moved to third where he was stranded when Jett Hart grounded into a fielder's choice.
Edmonds added an insurance run off reliever Greene in the fourth when Thielson walked, moved to third on successive groundouts and scored on a passed ball.
LCC squandered scoring opportunities in the fifth and sixth innings when they failed to get the key hit. In the fifth, Shadle looped a single to left-center and reached third on a groundout, but Richie Allen popped out to center to end the threat.
In the sixth, LCC loaded the bases when Peterson doubled and Lybeck and Hart each walked with two outs. But Edmonds left fielder Nick Meehan corralled the sinking liner with a sliding catch.
"I'm really proud of these guys," Smith said. "They could've quit in the second game, but they really fought back. All we needed was one more hit, maybe a tweener or a chopper and we score another run to make it 6-5. Then maybe we could get a passed ball and possibly tie the game."
Greene pitched seven innings of one-hit relief, striking out three.
"Mike was really upset with himself when he walked a guy in the ninth inning of the first game that ended up scoring the tying run," Hippi said. "He was really upset between games and I asked if he was all right, and he said he wanted to get back out there and pitch. He's a pretty determined guy."
LCC managed six hits, with Lybeck collecting two singles.
Edmonds 4, Lower Columbia 3 (13 innings):
If the Red Devils could have plated any of the 13 baserunners they left stranded in the first championship game, they would have been the team hoisting the championship trophy in the middle of David Story Field.
"They (the Tritons) executed better than we did," Smith said. "They hit-and-run and did the things they had to do. Our little things weren't the best, and those are the little things that win or lose games."
One of the biggest opportunities came in the eighth inning when Lindsley legged out a bunt, and moved to second when the throw from the Edmonds catcher sailed over the first baseman's head. Zirkle followed with a perfect bunt to the right side of the infield to move Lindsley to third, but Lindsley didn't move.
"I don't know why he didn't move on the bunt, because we did it to move him over. But he froze," a bewildered Smith said. "We could've had him at third base with one out."
Peterson followed with a deep sacrifice fly that would have scored Lindsley, but instead moved him to third. Bas Nooij struck out to end the threat.
In the third, Davis beat out an infield hit and Shadle was hit by a pitch. But Hart popped up a bunt to the pitcher, Davis moved to third and Shadle was erased at second on a fielder's choice from Sean Winston, and Richie Allen grounded out softly to first base.
LCC's last scoring opportunity came in the 10th when Peterson was hit by a pitch, Nooij walked and Davis slapped a single that loaded the bases with two outs. But on the first pitch, Shadle hit a towering fly ball that was caught in shallow center field to squash the threat.
Edmonds parlayed three base hits in the second inning off LCC starter Chad Wagner into a 1-0 lead, but the Devils rallied to tie the game in the sixth. Hart opened the frame with a single to left-center field, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt from Winston, and scampered home on a base hit from Allen. Lindsley followed with a single to left field, and both moved up a base on a groundout from Zirkle. But Peterson left both in scoring position when he struck out.
LCC roughed up Edmonds reliever Paris Shewey for two runs in the seventh when Winston drilled a two-out single to center that scored Davis and Shadle.
Edmonds tied the game in the ninth off LCC reliever Lindsley, and scored the game-winner in the 13th after hitting a one-out double, followed by consecutive singles off Devils reliever Ryan Graves.
"Our guys weren't scared and were so excited we couldn't calm them down before the games," Smith said. "We tried all day to get them calmed down, but these guys wanted this more than anything they've done in their lives."
LCC amassed nine hits in the opener, while Edmonds collected 15 hits off seven pitchers. Davis, Hart and Lindsley all had two hits apiece.
"When we were 5-3 in league, if you would've told us we were going to finish second in the NWAACC, I would've quit and taken it there," Smith said. "I've said that before, and they turned it all around. I'm very proud of this team's accomplishments this season."
Game 1: Tritons 4, Red Devils 3
Edm. 010 000 101 000 1 - 4 15 1
LCC 000 001 200 000 0 - 3 9 2
Tyler Rice, Paris Shewey (6), Chris Dennis (7) and Taylor Hudson, Adam Ladwig (9); Chad Wagner, Cody Fassold (6), Mike Greene (7), Brooks Lindsley (9), Tyler Lichty (10), Ryan Graves (13), Rye Phillips (13) and Bo Lybeck, Bas Nooij (7).
Game 2: Tritons 6, Red Devils 4
Lower Col. 020 002 000 - 4 6 5
Edmonds 320 100 00x - 6 6 1
Brian Erickson, Luke Zirkle (1), Mike Greene (3) and Bo Lybeck; Brandon Kizer, Jordan Harrison (3) and Taylor Hudson.
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