DUVALL – Striving to advance in KingCo League tournament action, the Cedarcrest High School baseball team missed its chance to play in the semifinal game against Issaquah this week after losing to the Newport Knights last Tuesday.
The Knights gained an early lead on the Red Wolves and cruised to a 12-1 victory at Bannerwood Park in Bellevue. Newport garnered six runs on six hits in the first inning. They then added two more runs in the second inning and four in the third to secure the win over Cedarcrest.
The one run for the Red Wolves came in the first inning by way of a single from Sean McDonald, bringing in a runner from third.
Before the loss, the team had suffered a five-game losing streak before beating Interlake on May 4 to earn the final playoff spot.
“They hit the ball really well,” McDonald said of the Newport batters. “We just couldn’t get it started.”
The improved team had already defeated Issaquah twice this year, 10-6 and 5-2. Issaquah finished the season in second place, but the team would later lose to Newport last Thursday in the playoffs.
“We had some big wins this year. Especially the two wins against Issaquah, one of the better teams in the state,” Coach Doug Hall said. “At the beginning of the year we were picked to finish last. We did better than that.”
Cedarcrest finished its season with a 9-11 league record, and Hall was pleased with his players’ performance.
Last year the Red Wolves were 4-14 in league play and finished in eighth place in the 3A KingCo League. Their record was 5-13 in 1999 and 6-12 in 1998. Cedarcrest moved up from 2A to 3A competition in 1998.
“When a team is building, as we were after going up a classification in size, there are certain barriers to overcome,” Hall said. “Sometimes it is winning your first game. The next is to win two in a row. In our case, a very big barrier was to get to the league tournament.”
McDonald earned 3A KingCo First Team All-League honors as utility player.
“My personal goal was to get an all-league honor and to make it to the playoffs,” McDonald said. “I’m just glad that we made it to the playoffs. I’m really happy with the team.”
Dan Amador, Nick Blanchard, Matt Geiger and Nick Rich received honorable mention.
Geiger and Blanchard were also selected by the coaches in the 3A KingCo League to play in the senior all-state feeder game on May 31 at Bannerwood Park in Bellevue. They are two of 18 players in their league who will play other seniors from 4A schools.
