By Martin Barrett
Honoring the seniors
The sun was out, and it hurt. Early in the first inning, the Pirate right fielder was blinded by a well-hit fly ball by Sammish to right field, which was in direct line with the sun. It resulted in a double, an RBI, and the start of a big 5-run inning for Sammish. The Pirates committed a rare error, and the Redhawks never looked back and cruised to a 7 – 4 victory in the final regular season game.
In the third inning, the Pirates tried to rally. The offense opened up with a single by Ronan Easter, a double by Hawke Hansen, a single by Cameron Keller, and another by Ronan Rasmussen. At the end of the third inning, it was Sammaish Redhawks 5 and the Highline Pirates 4.
But the Redhawks answered at the top of the 4th with two runs, the game’s final scoring.
As usual, the Pirates showed their fleet feet with 5 stolen bases, led by Rasmussen with 2, but they produced only six hits and took twelve strikeouts.
“The players battled back last night after being down 4-0 in the top of 1st. Sammamish is a team that will put the ball in play and play sound defense, so it’s always a fight against them”, said Coach Locher. “We hope to be able to play them again in the playoffs, as playing them brings out the best in our team.”
It was senior night for the Pirates. Coach Jonny Locher honored Emilio Flores-Delgado, Gus Schafer, Jacob Brown, and Cameron Keller. Fortunately, the Highline men finished second in the KingCo and advanced to the playoffs with a 10-11 record. The first playoff game will be Wednesday, May 3rd, at Bannerwood.
