I-5 Toyota AAA rolls to first-round win at State
Jul. 22—Box score
At Wheeler Field
I-5 TOYOTA 10, GONZAGA 0 (5 inn.)
Gonzaga Prep00000XX — 0 2 3
I-5 Toyota2305XXX — 10 11 2
Pitching — Lutman (W) 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 3 K, 2 BB; Weaver 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB. Highlights — Oram 1-2, BB, 2 R; Overbay 1-3, 2B, RBI, R; Hartley 1-3, 3B, 2 RBI, R; McNeely 2-3, 2 2B
Bringing most of the top seniors in the South Sound and Lewis County to the table, I-5 Toyota/Mountain Dew's AAA squad got a deep lineup rolling up and down the order in a 10-0 rout of Gonzaga Prep in the first round of the state tournament at Wheeler Field.
"I think these guys know that they're at this level and everybody else is, so they have to push themselves," coach Lyle Overbay said. "Our nine-hole hitter is a really good hitter. Our bench guys are really good hitters, you just can only put nine out there. It's good that we can match up and keep guys fresh, and those guys are going to push each other and make everyone better."
The Dewers got things going right out of the gate, with Tumwater's Brayden Oram leading off the bottom of the first with a single and fellow T-Bird Alex Overbay bombing a one-hopper to the wall in left for an RBI double; Overbay came in to score immediately after to make it 2-0 before Gonzaga Prep recorded an out.
In the second inning, it was the bottom of the order's turn to get going, and Tyler McLellan (Timberline), Moshie Eport (Centralia), and Calvin Curio (North Thurston) all reached base and came around to score.
Going into the fourth still up 5-0, I-5 broke things open for good, bringing in five more runs to reach the 10-run threshold.
Four of those runs came thanks to Braden Hartley (Rochester), who came into the inning sitting on an 0-for-2 afternoon but changed it quick with a bases-clearing triple, then proceeded to come home on an error getting the ball back into the infield.
"He popped the first one up, he kind of got out in front of the second one," Lyle Overbay said. "But he made the adjustment. He had the right timing; he waited until he had runners on to hit the ball in the gap."
While I-5 Toyota's hitters hailed from all over, it was only fitting that Overbay turned to the Twin Cities to open a tournament at Wheeler. W.F. West's Hunter Lutman started things off with three dominant innings, and Centralia's Tucker Weaver slammed the door in the final two. Both allowed just one hit apiece.
The Dewers will stay in the winners' bracket and move onto the quarterfinals, facing the Tri-City Titans on Sunday.
