Fastpitch: Wolves edge Trojans in extra innings

Published 4:26 pm Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Down to the last out — and down to their last strike — Sequim’s Wolves found a way to defend their home field.

Sophomore Kaylee Gumm hit a two-out RBI single in the bottom of the 10th inning as Sequim (2-0 in league, 5-2 overall) overcame a five-run deficit to knock off the Olympic Trojans, 13-12 on April 2.

“The girls wanted it,” Sequim coach Mike McFarlen said. “It was a gut check.”

Sequim junior Allysen Montelius had a two-out, two-run double to knot the game at 12-12 and, after giving up a home run to the second batter she face, pitched four-and-two-thirds shutout innings in relief to close the game.

“I don’t really like pitching,” Montelius admitted after the game, grinning. “My team helped me. They talked to me.”

McFarlen said Montelius hasn’t spent any time on the mound so far this year.

“I have confidence in her,” the Sequim coach said. “She doesn’t in herself, but she did very well.”

For much of the seesaw game between Olympic League foes with perfect league marks, the visiting Trojans (2-1, 4-2) seemed to have the upper hand. They jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the second inning off Sequim starter McKenzie Bentz.

“McKenzie had a sore arm and wasn’t at her best,” McFarlen said.

Sequim responded with four runs in the third inning, highlighted by a two-run double from MaryLu Clift and Gumm’s RBI single.

The Wolves added to the lead with two runs in the fourth thanks to an RBI groundout from Bentz and run-scoring double from Montelius, but Olympic battered Bentz and reliever Olivia Kirsch for seven runs in the fifth inning to take a 10-6 lead, highlighted by Adia Roberts’ grand slam.

Down 11-6 in the sixth inning, Sequim pulled to within a run after Clift hit a sacrifice fly and Gumm followed that with a long, three-run home run to center field.

Olympic tacked on a run in the top of the seventh, as Kiki Mitchell’s second home run of the day made it 12-10 Olympic.

Trojan starter Whitney Villalobos, who pitched all 10-plus innings, got the first two batters out in the seventh and had two strikes on Sequim senior Tia Bourm before Bourm singled to left. Bentz followed with a walk, setting up Montelius’ game-tying double.

The teams traded scoreless innings in the eighth and ninth innings, with Olympic’s left fielder Kylee Panilagao making a diving

stab of a Bourm hit in the ninth.

In the 10th, Villalobos got the first two batters before Clift singled to center, then narrowly stole second base. That set up Gumm for her fifth RBI of the game, coming on a single to center.

“We’ve got a good hitting team,” McFarlen said, adding, “It just takes one.”

The Sequim coach said he was impressed with how the Trojans have improved; last year, Sequim swept the two-game series by a combined score of 26-8.

“They’re a well-coached team,” McFarlen said. (Jessica Cabato, who guided South Kitsap to a 31-17 record and one Class 4A state-playoff appearance during the last two seasons, is Olympic’s new coach this year.)

“It was a great game,” Cabato told the Kitsap Sun newspaper. “It was a hard-fought game the whole time.”

Said Montelius, “Everyone just wanted it bad.”

Gumm finished 3-for-5 with five RBIs, Clift was 2-for-5 with two RBIs, Bourm has three hits and Montelius was 2-for-6 with two doubles and three RBIs.

Looking ahead

The Wolves have a break until April 10 when they take on Black Hills and April 14 when they travel to Belfair to take on North Mason. Sequim hosts Port Townsend on April 16.