Weather takes its toll as Mount Si loses first two of season
Published 11:01 pm Thursday, October 2, 2008
SNOQUALMIE – The Mount Si Wildcats’ hot early season start has suddenly cooled off. The team was scheduled to play three games last week, but rain washed out one game three times, and the other two they played were both losses, one in heartbreaking fashion.
On Wednesday night at Inglemoor, the Vikings of Kingco 4A scored a pair of runs each in the fifth and sixth innings to hand Mount Si its first loss of the year, 4-0.
Senior Adam Dentz continued to solidify himself in advance of a strong Kingco 3A campaign, giving up just three hits in four innings. He didn’t walk a single hitter and struck out eight. Tyler Starkel led the Wildcats offensively, picking up two hits, including a double.
In the fifth, Inglemoor scored twice, first on a fielding error by Mount Si, then on a groundout with the bases loaded and one out. Then in the sixth, the Vikings scored on a balk by Mount Si reliever Chris Brown, then scored again on another Wildcat error. Mount Si had three errors total in the contest, and all but one Inglemoor run as a result was unearned. Lack of clutch offense doomed the Wildcats.
“We had our chances to score, but just couldn’t get that clutch hit,” said Mount Si coach Gary McGregor in an e-mail.
Saturday, the Wildcats traveled to Tumwater to face the Wolves of Black Hills, a school from the 3A Pac-9 league. The bus ride home was a long one, as Mount Si blew a lead in the bottom of the seventh and lost to Black Hills 6-5. The Wolves’ Kevin Johnson singled home the game-winning run to cap off a three-run seventh-inning rally for Black Hills.
The Wildcats scored a pair of runs each in the first and third innings to take a quick 4-0 lead. In the first, Craig Weber singled home Ian Atkinson, then Starkel scored on an error by Wolves starting pitcher Seth Haskins. In the top of the third, Starkel walloped a Haskins’ pitch off the right field wall for a triple, scoring Remo Castagno. Another Weber single scored Starkel.
Mount Si was unable to maintain their cushion, however, as starting pitcher Kenny Casem gave up three runs in the bottom of the third. The Wolves’ big blow in their half of the inning was a two-run single with the bases loaded.
The Wildcats scored once again in the top of the sixth to make it 5-3, but relievers Blaine Sutton and Brandon Sales failed to close the deal in the bottom of the seventh. Sales, Mount Si’s normal catcher, was credited with the loss on the mound.
The other game Mount Si was scheduled to play, at Juanita, was first rained out Monday. Subsequent attempts to make the game up last Tuesday and Thursday also went awry thanks to the inclement weather.
The Wildcats play on Thursday at Mercer Island as they open up Kingco 3A play this week. First pitch, weather permitting, at Island Crest Park is scheduled to be under the lights at 6:30 p.m.
