The Bainbridge Spartan baseball team is on to the 2A state semifinals following two home victories May 24.
The No. 2 seed Spartans beat No. 15 seed Fife 8-1 in the opening round, and followed it up with a 6-2 quarterfinal win over No. 7 seed Archbishop Murphy. Bainbridge will now play No. 3 seed Selah May 30 at 4 p.m. at Joe Martin Stadium in Bellingham for a chance to play for the state championship. The Spartans have never won a state baseball title.
Meanwhile, No. 9 seed North Kitsap was close to advancing to the state semifinals, too, losing to No. 1 seed Anacortes 5-4 in a close quarterfinal battle. The Vikings previously beat No. 8 seed East Valley 7-1 in the opening round.
Bainbridge vs. Archbishop Murphy
Trey Thompson got the start for the Spartans and struck out the side in the first inning.
McCrea Curfman and Duncan Bos got walked, giving the Spartans their first base runners of the game. Braden French hit a single to right field, driving in Curfman and giving the Spartans an early 1-0 lead.
Thompson loaded the bases in the top of the second, but got a strikeout to get out of the second inning.
A.J. Larsen added to the Spartans’ lead with an RBI single to right field, scoring Dom D’Amico and giving Bainbridge a 3-0 lead entering the third inning.
Thompson loaded the bases again in the top of the third through a walk and an errant pitch hitting a batter, but managed to get the Spartans out of the inning with a strikeout.
Thompson was subbed out for French in the top of the fourth inning.
An error by Curfman and an Archbishop RBI single drove in the first scores for the Seahawks, narrowing Bainbridge’s lead to 3-2.
However, D’Amico was able to score after getting hit by a pitch in the bottom of the fourth, growing the Spartans’ lead back to two. Will Rohrbacher followed that up with an RBI double, giving the Spartans their largest lead of the game at 6-2.
The Spartans earned three quick outs in the seventh inning to secure the win.
Bainbridge vs. Fife
Curfman got the start for the Spartans on the mound and didn’t let up a hit until the top of the second inning.
D’Amico hit an RBI single, driving in French for the first Spartans score of the game. Curfman followed that up with a grand slam, pushing Bainbridge’s lead to 5-0 entering the third inning.
Curfman held his own on the mound in the third and fourth innings, only letting up three hits from the Fife batting order and controlling the game for Bainbridge from that point forward.
Bainbridge didn’t see another scoring opportunity until the bottom of the fifth inning when Wyndham Kochenash hit an RBI single to left field, scoring Rohrbacher and giving the Spartans a 6-0 lead.
The Spartans sealed the win 8-1.
NK v Anacortes
Viking Spencer Gillespie was walked in the first at-bat of the game and advanced to second base, but NK couldn’t get the bats going in the top of the first.
Jack Nelson got the start for the Vikings and struggled in the bottom of the first, loading the bases and letting up an RBI single to left field, giving Anacortes an early 2-0 lead.
The struggles on the mound continued for Nelson, loading the bases again in the second inning. He threw a wild pitch, which drove in another run for Anacortes and pushed their lead to 3-0. Nelson was subbed out for Ryan Enright later on in the inning, but Enright couldn’t put an end to the Seahawks’ scoring, letting up an additional two runs and loading the bases.
The Viking scored its first run in the fifth inning as Noah Wendt managed to hit an RBI single, driving in Chase McDaniel. Enright loaded the bases in the bottom of the fifth, but managed to force two fly outs and a fielder’s choice to keep the game in reach for the Vikings.
Dawsyn Anderson was walked in the top of the sixth, leading to a Nolan Rowe RBI double that trimmed NK’s deficit to three at 5-2.
Enright loaded the bases again in the bottom of the sixth, warranting another pitching change to Marcus Kim. Kim was able to get the Vikings out of the inning, giving them one more opportunity for a comeback.
In the top of the seventh, Gillespie got walked and Tate Stearns hit a two-run home run, narrowing NK’s deficit to one at five-four. However, Anderson flew out to right field, ending the game.
NK v East Valley
The Vikings got out to a hot start with a Greysen Prichard RBI single, scoring Teague Weible and giving NK an early 1-0 lead in the top of the second.
NK starting pitcher Anderson struck out the side in the bottom of the second. He only let up one hit within the first three innings, forcing a variety of strikeouts, flyouts and groundouts. The score was 1-1 at the end of the fifth inning.
Stearns received a walk in the top of the sixth, giving NK a base runner. NK was able to capitalize with a Kim RBI single and a Weible RBI double, increasing their lead to 3-1. Prichard added to the strong inning with a sacrifice fly to left field, scoring Stearns.
The Vikings tacked on a couple more runs, winning the game 7-1.
