VHS Pirates’ baseball team suffers tough week of losses, recognizes seniors

Published 1:30 am Tuesday, May 2, 2017

The Vashon High School baseball team saw a long week of losses last week after weeks of rain delays. In the span of eight days, the Pirates played seven games — a schedule that is very taxing on pitchers. This showed as the Pirate pitchers ended the week with some tired arms.

On Monday, April 24, the Vashon Pirates fell to the Seattle Christian Warriors 12-7 despite outhitting the Warriors 15-10.

Vashon’s Armando Oatman started on the hill and hit a batter, walked the next batter, then gave up a three-run homer at the top of the first before retiring to the side. In the bottom of the first, Pirate Andreas Stark led off with a single, but Vashon couldn’t put anything together. It was 3-0 Seattle Christian at the end of the first inning.

In the second inning, Bryce Beaty led off with a single followed by a double from Wyatt Yates. With one out and runners on second and third, Seattle Christian committed an error that allowed Beaty to score and Yates to advance to third. A Tyler Lowell single then brought in both Yates and Will Gard. The second inning ended 3-3.

In the fourth inning, the Warriors gained two more runs on a walk, two singles and a double. In the bottom of the fourth, Vashon’s Stark led off with a walk followed by singles from Lowell and Ashton Dulfer. Ary Dulfer reached base on an error scoring Stark. But with the bases loaded and one out, Vashon only gained the one run. The score at the end of the fourth inning was Seattle Christian 8, Vashon 4.

Pirate Aiden McCann pitched in the fifth and gave up three runs with the aid of an inning-ending error. Despite singles by McCann and Stark, Vashon could not score. The score at the end of the fifth was Seattle Christian 11, Vashon 4.

Vashon gave up a run in the top of the sixth and despite singles by Levi Myer and Ary Dulfer, Vashon could not score and fell behind Seattle Christian 12-4.

Vashon’s Gard came in to pitch the seventh inning and gave up no runs. In the bottom of the inning, Stark homered with two outs, Lowell singled and Ashton Dulfer homered with Vashon scoring three to end the game, but losing 12-7.

Stark and Lowell each collected three hits; Ashton Dulfer and McCann each had two; Myer, Beaty, Ary Dulfer, Yates and Gard all collected one hit. Stark and Ashton Dulfer homered for Vashon. Lowell and Ashton Dulfer had two RBIs. Stark, Dulfer and Gard each had one RBI.

On Wednesday, April 26, Vashon hosted Cascade Christian and fell 9-0. Myer started pitching for Vashon and gave up one run in the first with the aid of an error. Lowell singled, Ashton Dulfer and Beaty walked, but Vashon couldn’t score with the bases loaded and two outs. At the end of one, the score was Cascade Christian 1, Vashon 0.

Neither team scored until the fourth inning. On three hits and two walks, Cascade scored four runs. For Vashon, Yates singled and Aiden McCann walked, but Vashon came up empty. The score at the end of four was Cascade 5, Vashon 0.

At the top of the fifth, Ary Dulfer was pitching and with the aid of a couple of errors and a homer, Cascade scored two.

Ashton Dulfer led off the sixth with a single, but Vashon could not start a rally.

Neither team did anything in the seventh inning and the game ended Cascade 9, Vashon 0.

Lowell led Vashon in hits with two and Ashton Dulfer, Myer and Yates each collected one hit apiece.

On Friday, April 28, Vashon traveled to Cascade Christian for their final meeting of the year and lost 8-1. In the top of the first, Vashon struck out. Oatman started pitching for Vashon and did not give up a run in the first inning. The score at the end of one was tied at zero.

In the second inning, both teams left runners on bases reached by a walks. The score remained 0-0.

Vashon went down again in the top of the third inning. Cascade got a hit and four errors and scored three in the bottom of the third inning. The score at the end of three is Cascade 3, Vashon 0.

Despite a single by Vashon’s Lowell and a double by Myer, Vashon came up empty in the fourth inning and gave up two runs on three hits in the bottom of the fourth. The score stood at Cascade 5, Vashon 0.

In the top of the fifth, Vashon went down for a third time. Yates began pitching for Vashon and Cascade went down.

Cascade got a walk and three hits to score three in the bottom of the sixth putting the score at Cascade 8, Vashon 0.

In the top of the seventh, Vashon got two walks and a single by Yates to get its only score of the game. The game ended Cascade 8, Vashon 1.

The Pirates collected three hits from Lowell, Myer and Yates. Yates had the only RBI for Vashon.

The Pirates have had troubles all season long hitting with runners in scoring position.

Vashon played two more games against The Overlake School on Saturday and lost both.

The Pirates have one more regular season game at 4 p.m. tonight, Wednesday, at home against Charles Wright Academy.

— Dave Myer is the father of a Vashon High School baseball player.