For the Vashon High School Pirates baseball team, it was the perfect happily-ever-after ending to a fairy tale season.
On Saturday, May 28, the team cemented its place in school history, becoming Vashon’s first state baseball champions. In front of a huge Vashon crowd, the team beat the defending state champs, the Hoquiam Grizzlies, 10-6 at County Stadium in Yakima. The highest previous finish for the Pirates was fourth back in 1996 and 1999.
Over the two-day tournament, the Pirates followed their winning pattern established during the playoff run. They won the first game on Friday night against Overlake of Bear Creek in tight, too-close fashion, then blew open the final game with a decisive win.
The semi-final game against Overlake was a rematch of a home game that the Pirates dropped 7-5 earlier in the year. This time, the Pirates flipped the tables, coming away with the nail-biting 1-0 victory and earning themselves a trip to the state championship final. Jeremy Pilgrim-Stoppel got the start and was dominant through all seven innings. His fast ball was crushing throughout, and when his curve ball showed up in the third inning, he was devastating. He allowed only five hits with five strikeouts and no walks.
The Pirates were hitting well, but couldn’t string any of the hits together in meaningful fashion. Vashon could only get one run across on its eight hits and one walk by seven different batters. Levi Myer and Logan Hawkins each had two hits. They scored the one all-important run in the second inning off a leadoff double by Chester Pruett, whose courtesy runner, freshman Ary Dulfer, was driven in a couple batters later by Myer.
As home team, Vashon entered the top of the seventh needing just three outs to put the game away. They decided to keep things interesting for the fans and let the Growls have a glimmer of hope. Overlake promptly loaded the bases with no outs, and then the Pirates proceeded to play their best ball of the year. Refusing to get rattled, Pilgrim-Stoppel struck out Trevor McRae for the first out. With the bags still juiced and just one out, Overlake attempted a suicide squeeze play, which was botched when the batter was unable to hit the high and outside pitch. With the base runner almost at home plate, catcher Chester Pruett burst out of the catcher’s box like a linebacker, chasing the runner back to third. With mere feet to go, he flipped the ball to third baseman Harper Whitney, who laid down the tag for the second out of the inning. With the Vashon crowd in a frenzy, and breathing a little easier, the Pirates put the game away when the next batter hit a routine ground ball to shortstop Ashton Dulfer, who made the throw to first for the final out.
The championship final on Saturday saw the team in high spirits, loose and relaxed. Dancing and chanting to the dulcet tones of “El Chapo,” the Pirates played with confidence. Offensively, they were hitting well, but this time they were able to use those hits to their advantage, plating 10 runs on nine hits and seven walks. There was only one Pirate strikeout in the game.
Vashon was on Hoquiam’s pitching early, scoring two in the first inning. With the bases loaded and no outs, Clyde Pruett drove in the first run. That set the tone for the rest of the game with the team scoring two more in the second, four in the fourth and two more in the fifth. Sam Schoenberg had two RBIs and three hits, including a monster triple in the fourth inning. The RBIs came in up and down the Pirates’ lineup. Chester Pruett also had two RBIs, and the others came in courtesy of Ashton Dulfer, Hawkins, Clyde Pruett, Simon Perrin and Whitney.
Defensive heroics marked the fifth inning when senior center fielder Perrin made a highlight-reel sliding catch for the first out of the inning. The third out of that inning was a dirt-filled, somersault knee-high line drive catch by second baseman Clyde Pruett.
Hawkins had the start for the championship and was masterful, shutting down the Grizzles in order through the first two innings. In his five innings of work, he allowed only two runs on one hit with five strikeouts and five walks.
Sporting a 10-1 lead going into the top of the sixth inning, the Pirates were just six outs away from history when they allowed Hoquiam a glimmer of hope, giving up five runs. After a leadoff walk, Hawkins was replaced on the mound by Ashton Dulfer, who struggled from the outset, giving up four runs on no hits with one walk and three hit batters. With both sides of the stands engaged in a spirited and entertaining cheer-off, the Pirates rallied as Sam Yates took the mound. Working quickly, Yates faced only four batters, striking out one for the first out, giving up a hit, then inducing a ground ball and a pop-up to get the Pirates out of the inning.
With three outs to go, Vashon faced only four batters in the top of the seventh with Yates getting another strikeout, walking one, then a routine fly ball to Perrin. The game came to a close on a perfectly fielded slow roller to Ashton Dulfer, who made the throw to Hawkins at first base, and the rest was history.
“What a fitting finish for a group of guys who were champions way before they beat Hoquiam Saturday night,” head coach Steve Hall said. “These guys respect each other, fight for each other and never ever quit. They’re all genuinely great young men that I’m just so blessed and proud to have had the opportunity to work with. It’s been a very sweet ride from start to finish.”
But the trip wouldn’t have been complete without some oddity. Twenty miles out of Yakima, the team bus broke down and it took about an hour for parents to turn around, pack all the gear bags into two pickup trucks and find a seat for everyone. This, coupled with an inexplicable delay at the Fauntleroy tollboth that caused half the team to miss the ferry home, just capped the story. But as the community gathered to support the team with an amazing “Welcome Home” parade through town, all agreed it could not have been more perfect.
— Cheryl Pruett is the mother of two VHS Pirate baseball players.
