The Pirate varsity baseball team lost 10-8 to non-league 2A opponent Fife on Friday, April 9, at the Vashon home field. This was a makeup of a previously rained-out game.
Fife struck quickly, scoring four runs in the first inning by stringing together a series of five base hits off starter Matt Amick.
Vashon scored one in the bottom of the first and didn’t strike again until the fifth, when Zack Drape, Peter Johnson, Joe Gilmour, Wes Paulsen and Amick all had hits to tally four Pirate runs.
In the top of the sixth, Fife scored three runs off relief pitcher Julian Smith, and in the bottom of the inning the Pirates rallied for two runs on a dropped fly ball by the Fife third baseman.
The Pirates threatened again in the seventh with singles by Matt Dick and a double by Drape, but the Trojans held on for the win.
Pirate highlights included two doubles by Gilmour, a single and double by Drape, two singles by Amick, and two innings of scoreless relief pitching by Tyler Bernheisel. At the end of the game, Fife had tallied 10 runs, 13 hits and 2 errors; Vashon had 8 runs, 10 hits and 1 error.
The game was an excellent tuneup after a week off as the Pirates prepare to play four key league games this week against Chimacum, Cascade Christian, Charles Wright and Seattle Christian.
“Fife was good practice after not playing much in two weeks,” said Coach Steve Hall after the game. “The difference in the game was five mental errors that cost us. It was a good tuneup for the next couple of weeks, when all our games will be very important league games.”
JV returns rusty after week off
The JVs hit the road on Friday to play the Trojans of Fife High School.
The Pirates started the game with a hit and a steal of second, but the runner was thrown out going for third after seeing a phantom steal sign. A couple of strikeouts later, and the tone was set for the game.
Vashon pitching held Fife to just a single in the bottom of the first. After a quick 1-2-3, the Pirates were back on defense. A couple of quick outs and then it all fell apart. A mental error compounded by a throwing error derailed the train, and it wouldn’t stop until the fourth inning, but by then it was way too late. Final score: Fife 17, Vashon 0.
Coach Joe Wald expressed his frustration after the game.
“If we just take the first and fourth innings and forget the rest it was 0-0,” he said. “Our defense, errors and mental errors were horrendous. We looked like a team that hadn’t played in a while and had never seen a playbook.”
The JVs played a road game against Chimacum on April 12 (with results too late for this week’s Beachcomber) and have a home game against Charles Wright today.
— Rita Allman does Web and team support for the Pirates.
