James Grubb picked a near-perfect time to be nearly unhittable.
The Sequim southpaw tossed a complete game gem in Saturday’s West Central District semifinal in Silverdale, allowing just three hits and working around four bases on balls as Sequim knocked off River Ridge 6-2.
A chance at a district title, however, was washed out when rains delayed the other semifinal pitting Fife against Liberty, and with that game being completed May 16 (results were not available at press time) tourney officials declared Sequim the No. 2 seed to state; the winner of the other semifinal will take the No. 1 seed, the loser the No. 3 seed.
Sequim and the winner of the other semifinal will be declared co-district champions, Sequim head coach Dave Ditlefsen said.
The Sequim coach lamented the chance at an outright title, though.
“Our kids really wanted that (district championship) game — we were playing for confidence,” Ditlefsen said. “But you don’t want to have to play another game and give everyone rest; I understand the decision.”
Against River Ridge, Sequim jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning and added runs in the second, fourth and sixth. The Wolves had five hits — all singles — but took advantage of River Ridge starter Zach Carter’s wildness. The Hawks’ junior had seven walks in three innings.
Austin Hilliard drew two walks, stole three bases and scored three times, James Thayer went 2-for-3 and Gavin Velarde and Johnnie Young added base hits in the win.
“I thought our kids did a great job of manufacturing runs,” Ditlefsen said. “We didn’t group a bunch of hits together at one time but got a lot of sacrifices and steals. Runs come at
a premium when you get to this level.”
Grubb struck out eight Hawks and gave up one earned run.
“He threw one of his best games of the year,” Ditlefsen said. “His location was spot on (and) his pitch count was down. He got them to put the ball in play.”
Sequim at state
In the first round of the class 2A state tournament, the Wolves (15-7) take on East Valley of Spokane (9-15) at 10 a.m. Saturday, May 21, at Wheeler Field in Centralia.
While East Valley struggled during the regular season, going 6-10 in the Great Northern League, the Knights got hot at the right time, winning three of four district/crossover games to earn a spot at state.
“They sure look like they’re competitive — a lot of their losses are close losses,” Ditlefsen said. “We know it’s going to be tough.”
The winner takes on the victor of the River Ridge/W.F. West contest at 1 p.m. that day, also at Wheeler Stadium; both games are loser-out contests.
If Sequim wins two, they advance to a state 2A semifinal game in Yakima on May 27, with a top-four finish in state in store.
Ditlefsen said Sequim’s high state seeding and co-district title shouldn’t be a surprise.
“We had lofty goals this season,” the Sequim coach said. “We had seven starters and several pitchers back. We had couple of rough patches, tough losses to close teams, but we also had some stretches of good baseball like this.”
