On April 12 the Pirates JV team traveled to Chimacum and suffered an 11-3 loss in a light drizzle under cloudy skies. Vashon had a 3-2 lead until the Cowboys tied it up in the bottom of the fourth.
Pirate hitting was led by Erik Powelson (2 for 4 with a double). Wald, Kraabel, Stewart, and Sawyer were all patient at the plate and had 2 walks apiece. The hitting wasn't so good as Vashon had runners in scoring position but left 11 runners stranded.
Erik Powelson (4IP, 2 hits, 2 ER, 2 K's) and Kelly Sullivan (2 IP, 1 ER) pitched to catcher Geoffrey Kraabel.
The JV team next played the Charles Wright Tarriers on April 14 at the Vashon home field. The Pirates were down 6-0 in the fifth, but ended up giving up nine runs in the sixth for a 15-0 loss.
After a great batting practice the day before, Vashon only managed 4 hits for the game. Erik Powelson had three of them and Rowan Stewart had the other. Coach Wald summed up − "In this game, the lack of hitting and errors were the main problems.”
The Pirates broke out of their slump on Monday (April 19) and defeated the Orting Cardinals 7-4.
Vashon was down 1-0 until the third when Fletcher Garrison had a nice fake bunt/slash hit with the bases loaded to score two. Orting scored two unearned runs in the top of the fourth to go ahead 3-2.
Geoffrey Kraabel started the bottom of the fourth with a walk. After Orting booted a couple of hard hit grounders, Garrison came through with another two run RBI single. By the time the Pirates were done in fourth they had built a 7-3 lead. Dustin Corthell relieved Joe Wald after 3 2/3 innings and finished the final 3 1/3 − holding Orting to just 1 unearned run the rest of the way.
Offensive stars included Garrison with four RBIs, Ben Reoux with two hits, and Parker Scott one for one with a nice opposite field shot.
Geoffrey Kraabel was behind the plate the entire game with Joe Wald (3 2/3 IP, 1 earned run, 78 pitches thrown) and Dustin Corthell (3 1/3 IP 1 ER and 4 K's) sharing the pitching.
"Our defense was much improved with quite a few good plays, said Coach Wald. The 6-3-2 double play in the third inning was probably my favorite of the game.”
The Pirates will now have to wait nine days until their final game of the year vs. Steilacoom at home on April 29, as none of the Christian schools in the Nisqually league field a JV team.
