It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, and then … redemption. Vashon High School’s Pirate baseball team played three tense games last week, winning the first, dropping one and then winning big when they needed to in order to advance to the 1A state tournament.

After receiving a first round bye in the district tournament, the Pirates faced league nemesis Seattle Christian on Tuesday, May 10, at neutral site Charles Wright Academy in Tacoma. The game was a tight and contentious affair, which saw the Pirates come out on top with a final score of 3-2. All runs for both teams were unearned runs scored via errors and sloppy play on both sides. The Pirates only had two hits on the day, but managed to manufacture the runs on passed balls, wild pitches and overthrows. The Warriors returned the favor, scoring on a bad throw and a passed ball.

A go-ahead run by the Pirates was hotly contested by Seattle Christian players, coaches and fans as Ashton Dulfer attempted to score on a suicide squeeze play, but the batter had missed the sign and didn’t bunt the ball, so Dulfer was literally running into the catcher who had the ball. The umpire ruled that the catcher did not have the ball in his glove when trying to tag Dulfer and he evaded subsequent attempts and managed to get his fingers on the plate. He was ruled safe. Mayhem ensued as the Warriors took several moments to compose themselves.

On Thursday, May 12, the team took on its other league rival, Cascade Christian, in the district championship game at Curtis High School in University Place. It was a disheartening 4-2 loss by a team who succumbed to playoff pressure and just couldn’t get anything going in the right direction. Pitching was timid and shaky for both Logan Hawkins and Dulfer, and the team’s offense was left on the bench. The Pirates meager two runs were driven in on a two-out, two-run hit by Clyde Pruett.

After leaving the field and having to listen to the Cougars celebrate with the first-place trophy, the Pirates were forced into a loser-out game for the second spot in the state tournament. As the baseball gods would have it, the opponent was once again the Seattle Christian Warriors. The Pirates and Warriors had faced off four times previously, with Vashon winning them all by narrowly close margins. The all-important game five was Saturday, May 14, again at Curtis High School. This time the Pirates left no doubt. They had put on their big-boy compression shorts that morning, and they came out to play ball, taking the contest with a decisive 10-4 score.

In the top of the first there was a brief, “Oh no … not again” moment when the Warriors drew first blood scoring one run. The Pirates answered right back in their half of the inning with a two-out, two-run single by Pruett. The Pirates went on to score runs in each of the first three innings, and the closest the game ever came was a breath-holding 7-4, before the Pirates tacked on three more to get to 10.

Pitching for Vashon were Dulfer and Jeremy Pilgrim-Stoppel who both had good control and were able to keep the ball in play and let the defense do their work. Aside from a couple of bum umpire calls, the team held together through the tense moments and just played good, fundamental baseball like they have been doing all year. Defensively, great plays were made by Sam Yates who had a sno-cone grab off a weird hop that ended with a momentum-killing out. Catcher Chester Pruett snagged a miraculous backstop rebound off a wild pitch for the throw down to Harper Whitney at third to nail an advancing runner.

At the plate, the Pirates found their bats once again. Hits were scattered up and down the line-up. Hawkins drilled a stand-up triple to the centerfield fence, Sam Schoenberg was solid in the lead-off hole and ended up with two crucial stolen bases. Levi Myer laced a beauty of a double to the left field wall. Simon Perrin had a bloop hit to extend an inning and used his speed to work the bases. Clutch bat of the day goes to Clyde Pruett who, in addition to the first two runs, drove in three more for a total of five.

Head coach Steve Hall said the loss to Cascade on Thursday was tough, but the domination in Saturday’s game left the team solid.

“After beating Cascade three for three this season, it was really hard to watch them celebrate beating us and winning the district title, especially when if we had just played our normal solid defense we would’ve won it 2-1,” he said. “The good thing about it was it only made the guys more determined to come back and take it to Seattle on Saturday and win the second seed to state. That’s exactly what they did. Solid performances in all phases of the game. We dominated from the start to finish. I’m so proud of the effort and accomplishments this year, and so excited to compete in the state tournament.”

The Pirates will face off against Meridian at Castle Rock High School on Saturday, May 21, at 10 a.m. The game will be broadcast on Voice of Vashon radio.

— Cheryl Pruett is the mother of two Vashon High School athletes.