The Pirate varsity baseball team defeated Charles Wright Academy 22-5 on Friday, March 19 on a beautiful spring day on Vashon’s home field.
Vashon sophomore Julian Smith got the nod and took the mound as the starting pitcher. However, he quickly found that the first six Tarrier batters were skilled and strong. The Tarrier line-up included freshman standout Nate Mondou, a member of the USA U14 national team that traveled to Ecuador last summer.
Charles Wright scored three runs before Vashon recorded the first out of the game. Fortunately, the Vashon defense stepped up and stopped the Tarrier surge. Vashon responded immediately as Peter Johnson, Tyler Bernheisel, and Joe Gilmour all reached base and scored on three consecutive errors by the Tarrier defense.
Smith took the mound to start the second inning, but surrendered a home run to the lead-off batter. With the core of the Tarrier lineup coming up, Coach Hall thanked Smith for his effort and handed the ball to Senior Wes Paulsen. Paulsen shut down the Tarriers, pitching four strong innings while surrendering only two runs.
Game highlights included a spectacular over-the-shoulder catch by left fielder Matt Dick and a three-run home run by Smith. Senior Joe Gilmour added three singles and three RBIs, and lead-off hitter junior Peter Johnson added three walks, two singles, and six stolen bases.
Coach Hall summarized the game saying that Smith is young and today he was out-matched by the Tarrier hitters. This being a key league game, Hall knew he needed to bring in senior workhorse Paulsen to shut down the tough Tarrier offense, which he did.
JVs Lose to Charles Wright
The JV team traveled to Charles Wright on March 19 and lost 8-4 on some shaky 2-out defense. After the game, Coach Joe Wald said, “If we take away the errors, they only had 4 earned runs. We will be working hard on our defense next week in between all of the games. We also failed to capitalize when we had runners in scoring position.”
The starting pitcher for the Tarriers of Charles Wright went 6 strong innings (88 pitches thrown, 5 K). Some great at-bats from Joe Wald (2 hits 2 RBI), Dustin Corthell (2 hits) and Kelly Sullivan (2 hits 1 RBI).
Sam Fredrickson made his high school debut on the mound, going 2 1/3 innings (54 pitches thrown, 4 K). He was relieved by Ben Reoux who threw 3 1/3 innings (45 pitches thrown, 1 run, 1 K).
One minor injury occurred that looked bad at first. While covering third base, Colton Alberthal’s ankle was sliced up by metal cleats. After Coach Wald got him cleaned up, the Charles Wright trainer examined Alberthal to make sure stitches weren’t required.
The Pirates’ play a non-league competition against Eatonville on Monday, March 22, and have an important league match up against a strong Orting team on Wednesday, March 24.
