State Baseball: Tumwater experiences heartbreaking, season-ending loss

May 18—BOX SCORE

At Auburn HS (Opening Round)

THUNDERBIRDS 7, GREYHOUNDS 4

Pullman 022 000 0 — 4

Tumwater 021 022 X — 7

TUM Pitching — Karlson (W) 7 IP, 5 H, 4 R (3 ER), 3 BB, 5 SO. Highlights — Bond 2-4, HR, RBI, R; Marson 1-3, 2B, RBI, 2 R, 2 SB; Roy 1-3, 2B, RBI, R, BB

At Auburn HS (Quarterfinal)

HORNETS 9, THUNDERBIRDS 8

Enumclaw 000 310 5 — 9

Tumwater 104 001 2 — 8

TUM Pitching — Thompson 6 IP, 6 H, 4 R (3 ER), 1 BB, 8 SO; Houk (L, BS) 0.1 IP, 2 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 1 SO; Konrad 0.2 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 1 SO. Highlights — Marson 2-3, 2B, 2 RBI, R; Thompson 2-4, 2B, RBI, 2 R; Roy 2-4

AUBURN, Wa. — By sheer common sense, the weather pattern Mother Nature loves to pummel the Pacific Northwest with is rain.

And those droplets of water had two meanings on Saturday.

In the midst of a downpour, the Tumwater High School baseball team's opened the floodgates at the plate and all of a sudden was up by a comfortable margin over Enumclaw.

When the rain ensued towards the later innings, the T-Birds' reign hanging above Class 2A was over.

Eighth-seeded Tumwater nearly completed its fourth postseason comeback, but the magic ran out and the top-seeded Hornets eliminated the two-time state champions 9-8 in the quarterfinals at Auburn High School.

"I have never seen a fight like this," Thunderbirds head coach Lyle Overbay said. "We hit the ball as hard as we could. The fight these guys have, it is something I've never seen before in my life. Yes I'm sad, but very proud."

It was an emotional scene afterwards. Tears flowed down the faces of Tumwater's players and they slowly walked towards the final team huddle.

The dream of claiming a three-peat in Bellingham was over.

"Sour taste. Sometimes that's how baseball goes. It sucks," Overbay stated.

For much of the quarterfinal, the Thunderbirds (19-7) were in front. Even as Enumclaw attempted its initial rally, they shut the door momentarily.

Starter Derek Thompson stranded the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position with back-to-back strikeouts in the top of the sixth. In the bottom half, Peyton Davis delivered a two-out RBI single for a 6-4 lead.

"That was a big run," Overbay said.

Relief pitcher Luke Houk struggled with command and location in the seventh. A single and a bases loaded hit by pitch tied the game, then the Hornets capped a five-run frame with another run-scoring single, fielder's choice and walk.

All of a sudden, Tumwater trailed 9-6.

"His stuff was breaking, I felt like he was trying to do too much," Overbay said. "I knew we had the bottom of the inning. Sometimes he struggles a little bit, but then he's found it. Kind of hoping that would be the case."

Senior Eddie Marson roped an RBI double and an error made it a one-run game and the tying run was 90 feet away. Enumclaw induced a groundout and the celebration ensued.

Once up 5-0 after a four-run third, the T-Birds packed their bags for the final time.

"They did a good job taking advantage of our balls getting over the plate consistently," Overbay said. "We hit the ball hard, but it was right at people."

Marson, Thompson and Landon Roy each notched two hits for Tumwater in the quarterfinal game. Thompson ended his day on the mound with eight strikeouts in six innings.

It tagged Hornets ace Cooper Markham early behind a balk in the first and four straight balls put in play in the third.

"We knew we were going to face him," Overbay said. "He wasn't locating his curveball so we were able to see that fastball. It wasn;t doing much movement. We've hit the 88s and just made sure we weren't swinging at that high stuff."

In the opening round 7-4 victory over ninth-seeded Pullman, outfielder Will Bond launched a leadoff solo home run over the right field fence to tie the game 4-4 in the bottom of the fifth. A sacrifice fly gave the T-Birds the lead for good.

Marson hit a run-scoring double and Liam Karlson added an RBI single as insurance. Karlson fired a complete game with five strikeouts and five hits allowed.

"That gives us confidence," Overbay said of Bond's home run. "We never pushed the panic button."

It was a constant back-and-forth affair with the Greyhounds. Both teams scored two runs in the second and Pullman took a brief lead with two in the third. Tumwater cut the margin in half on an RBI groundout by Roy.

Marson, Bond, Roy and Jimmie Womach all recorded at least one hit and one RBI versus Pullman.

Saturday marked the final game for Marson and Karlson as constant starters, Nathan Klingelhoffer as a courtesy/pinch runner and bench players Tyler Criss and Catcher Jones.

Most of the squad is expected to be back for a return to Bellingham next spring.

"We got guys that can step in," Overbay said. "We got young guys and they grew up. That is only going to help us."