Baseball: Pirates bag two huge victories, team begins playoffs this week

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, May 11, 2016

The Vashon Pirates baseball team continued their winning ways, putting in two stellar performances last week. On Tuesday, May 3, they clobbered Kent’s Kentlake High School 9-1, following that up with an impressive 10-3 drubbing of Olympia High School.

Against Kentlake, senior Jeremy Pilgrim-Stoppel proved to be unbeatable in his six-inning effort, retiring the first 12 batters he faced. He gave up only one hit, allowed no earned runs, gave up no walks and struck out five.

Vashon scored two runs in the third inning, three in the fourth and four in the fifth, amassing the nine runs on 10 hits. Big bats for the game belonged to Logan Hawkins and Pilgrim-Stoppel, who each had two hits and three RBIs. Sam Schoenberg drew three walks, had one hit, one RBI and scored three of the runs.

On Friday, the team traveled to Olympia and put in a lights-out performance both offensively and defensively. The Pirates pitched by committee with Hawkins getting the start, going the first two innings. Dulfer came in for the third and fourth. Chester Pruett pitched the fifth, and Schoenberg covered the sixth and seventh.

Vashon scored one run in the fourth, building off a lead-off double by Clyde Pruett. The lead was short-lived as Olympia scored two in the bottom of the fourth, and added one more in the bottom of the fifth. Down 3-1 going into the top of the sixth, the Pirates promptly sent 12 batters to the plate, scoring seven.

Hawkins set the tone for the inning with a lead-off solo shot that went 373 feet over the right center field fence. Pilgrim-Stoppel drew a walk and advanced to second on a passed ball. Clyde Pruett, inadvisably ignoring coach’s call for a bunt, drilled the ball over the left field fence, bringing in the go-ahead run. But the Pirates were just getting started. Chester Pruett flew out for the first out of the inning, then Harper Whitney singled. Bryce Beaty reached base on error and Whitney advanced. Sophomore Levi Myer smashed a home run to left field, bringing the score to 7-3. Schoenberg drew a walk and Dulfer was hit by a pitch. Hawkins struck out in his second at bat of the inning, but Pilgrim-Stoppel singled, and the runners advanced with Schoenberg scoring. Clyde Pruett struck out to end the inning.

The team was back in the seventh, tacking on a couple more runs for good measure. Chester Pruett led things off with a double deep to center field. Whitney singled, and Beaty doubled to score Pruett. Wyatt Yates hit into a double play, but the sacrifice scored Whitney, bringing the Pirates 10th run across the plate.

Once again, head coach Steve Hall was proud of his team’s clutch performances.

“It was great to see the guys rise to the challenge of competing against two playoff bound 4A schools,” he said. “The entire pitching staff had great performances and, as a team, we are getting quality at bats and really hitting the ball solidly. What impressed me the most was the way after being down 3-1 at Olympia going into the sixth inning, the guys dug deep and unleashed three deep home runs and took the game over. The way these guys never quit battling and fighting for each other is incredible.”

Looking forward to the playoffs, Hall noted the team will need “every bit of that grit going into this week’s district games.”

The Pirates’ first playoff game against Seattle Christian was Tuesday, May 10, with results after press time. The remainder of the schedule is based on the outcome of that game. The team will play either Thursday, Saturday or both.

— Cheryl Pruett is the mother of two VHS baseball players.