The Mount Si baseball team has been looking for that one game this season that would get them on the right track heading toward postseason. After their bitter defeat at the hands of their Valley rival Cedarcrest April 21, one might not have expected that needed game to take place Monday against second-place Issaquah. However, strong pitching and excellent efforts from several players offensively and defensively made that thinking moot and now, Mount Si appears to be on the road to the playoffs.

Mikel Ushler had a breakout day, going 3-4 with a home run and four runs batted in while Kyle Cantalini pitched strong six-plus innings as the Wildcats rallied for a wild 10-9 eight-inning win.

Cantalini was pleased with his outing. “Well, I went to Liberty and I got pulled in the first inning, so I came into this game with a whole different mentality set. I wanted to shut these guys down. I wanted it bad,” Cantalini said.

Mount Si opened the scoring in the first with two runs scored on a fielder’s choice by Jake Handy. Blake Hepner scored on that initial play, but a botched throw to first base by Issaquah allowed Derek Aldrich to also score to put Mount Si up 2-0.

After Issaquah tied the game in the top of the second with two runs of their own, the Wildcat bats went to work in the bottom of the frame. Mount Si sent 10 hitters to the plate and scored four runs to take a 6-2 lead; key in that rally was Ushler’s home run, a solo shot to left-center field. With two out, the Wildcats hit four straight singles and scored three more runs on those singles.

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