Needing a victory to win another Olympic League title — their sixth since 2015 — Port Angeles got exactly that in a 5-1 win over the visiting Sequim Wolves on May 13.
Port Angeles won league titles in 2022, 2021, 2018, 2017, 2016 and 2015.
It was a well-played game by both teams, with only one error in the entire contest, by Sequim. Both teams made great defensive plays to keep their opponents in check. Port Angeles won, however, because they simply hit a pair of balls the Sequim players couldn’t get to. Lily Halberg hit a home run and Natalie Robinson hit a huge three-run home run that was the difference in the game.
“I was proud of them. They put the ball in play, they just hit it right at people,” Sequim coach Mike McFarlen said. “[Pitcher] Angel [Wagner] kept us in it all game.”
The good news for Sequim is that Lainey Vig came in to pitch the sixth inning. It was her first game pitching since very early in the season when she was injured.
“I’m super-happy that she’s back,” McFarlen said. Vig came in with two outs and two runners on and one of the Port Angeles’ best hitters, Zoe Smithson at the plate with a chance to completely blow the game open. Vig got Smithson to hit a fly ball to right field to end the inning and the threat.
PA’s Teagan Clark allowed a run in the first inning on an RBI single by Mia Pozernik in the first inning. After that, she kept the Sequim hitters in check. She allowed a single to Christy Grubb in the third and a two-out double by Michaela Green in the fifth.
Sequim (8-6, 12-6), finished the season in fourth place in the Olympic League with an important 7-4 win Saturday over Olympic.
The Wolves came back from a 3-1 deficit with a six-run sixth inning. Grubb paced the offense from the leadoff spot with three hits while Addie Smith and Mia Pozernick had two hits each. Grubb and Smith each drove in two runs.
Wagner (five innings) and Vig (two) combined to hold Olympic to one earned run
McFarlen said Sequim was already going to bidistrict before the win over Olympic, but that the victory helps the Wolves’ seeding.
Port Angeles is assured a high seed and a possible No. 1 overall seed at the bidistrict tournament that begins next Friday (May 20). Seeding was to be determined this past weekend, though the tourney bracket had not been updated as of press time.
The entire Olympic League is ranked highly in RPI with five teams in the top 20. The league will likely get five teams in the bidistrict. Port Angeles is No. 3, Olympic No. 10, North Kitsap No. 12, Sequim No. 14 and North Mason No. 20.
Wolves beat Bucs
The Bucs were a bit wild, and the Wolves locked in.
Sequim took advantage of eight walks and three errors in an 11-1, mercy rule-shorted win at Kingston on May 11. Taylee Rome was 2-for-4 with two doubles and three RBIs, Green had a double and two RBIs and Grubb and Smith scored twice in the league win.
Smith had three steals and Grubb and Green had two each.
Wagner, backed by a solid defense, tossed five innings of five-hit, one-run ball, striking out two.
Sequim Gazette photo by Michal Dashiell
Sequim Gazette photo by Michal Dashiell
Sequim’s Taylee Rome enjoys an intersquad game on May 10. Sequim Gazette photo by Michal Dashiell
Sequim’s Lainy Vig pitches in an intersquad scrimmage on May 10. Sequim Gazette photo by Michal Dashiell
Photo by Keith Thorpe/Olympic Peninsula News Group Sequim’s Michaela Green swings at a pitch from Port Angeles’ Teagan Clark as catcher Zoe Smithson waits for the delivery on May 12 in Port Angeles.
