In the waning days of their season, Sequim’s Wolves needed the proverbial stars to align for a shot at the West Central District tournament. They nearly got it.
But a loss on May 1 ended Sequim’s postseason plans — to the same team that ended their 2017 season.
Olympic Trojan hurlers Keaton Dean and Evan Turnquist held the Wolves to just two hits while Trojan hitters battered Sequim pitchers for nine hits and six walks in an 11-0, mercy rule-shortened game on May 1.
Against the Trojans, only Joey Oliver and Silas Thomas managed to get hits against the Trojans, as Dean struck out eight Wolves over four innings and Turnquist whiffed two.
On the other side, the Trojans did damage with small-ball, lacing nine singles — three from Kylen Pereira. He and Dylan Heino had two RBIs each.
In 2017, Sequim was one win from the state 2A tourney before getting knocked out by Olympic in a 3-1 heart-breaker.
Port Angeles (11-1, 15-3) went on to take the Olympic League title, with North Kitsap second, Olympic third and Kingston fourth.
A win, combined with a Kingston loss to North Kitsap (NK beat Kingston 13-3 on May 1) would have drawn Sequim into a tie with Kingston’s Buccaneers for the Olympic League’s fourth and final district tourney berth, and the Wolves owned the tiebreaker.
Instead, Sequim will be on the outside looking in at the postseason for the first time since 2013.
“We fell a game short but give the kids credit for staying motivated and continue to work hard,” Sequim coach Dave Ditlefsen said.
“We are happy with the second half of our season,” he said.
“We stumbled out of the gates,” Ditlefsen said, noting the Wolves 1-6 league mark on April 18. After that, Sequim went 3-2, had a big win against North Kitsap and nearly knocked off league champ Port Angeles.
“We beat a couple of teams that beat us the first time (and) that’s what you want; you want to improve,” he said.
The Wolves saw contributions from a number of players with little varsity experience, including a pair of freshmen and some first-year seniors.
Ninth-grader Michael Grubb, who hit fifth in Sequim’s lineup and held down a key position (shortstop) in Sequim’s infield, led the team in RBIs with 15. “He really showed he can handle the speed of the game,” the Sequim coach said.
Ditlefsen said he was also impressed with Silas Thomas, the only sophomore in Sequim’s baseball program whose hot hitting moved him into the No. 2 spot in the lineup by season’s end, and also with Cameron Welcher, who pitched in a number of big games late after not playing in 2017.
Overall, Ditlefsen said the Wolves leaned heavily on both senior Ian Miller and junior Johnnie Young.
“(They) really provided the leadership all year, even when we were struggling,” Ditlefsen said of Miller and Young.
“They kept the team working hard and should get credit for how much they put into the season.”
Young posted a team-best .353 batting average and six extra-base hits (all doubles). Miller was second on the team with a .333 average and led the team in hits (18) and runs scored (16).
Olympic League standings (final)
Team Lg. Over.
Port Angeles 11-1 15-3
North Kitsap 9-3 12-5
Olympic 8-4 11-6
Kingston 5-7 8-8
North Mason 4-8 6-14
Sequim 4-8 8-9
Bremerton 1-11 5-14
