State Baseball Tournament Roundup: Montesano, Ocosta fall in state regional finals

The Twin Harbors two remaining prep baseball teams saw their seasons come to an abrupt end May 18, with both Montesano and Ocosta falling in the regional final of their respective state tournament.

1A State Tournament

Regional Round

Montesano 6, College Place 1

Montesano advanced to the 1A regional final with a 6-1 victory over College Place on Saturday at Castle Rock High School.

Montesano starter Ben Wills tossed a complete game two-hitter, allowing one unearned run while striking out five in leading the Bulldogs to the state regional final.

Down 1-0 in the bottom of the third inning, Montesano took the lead for good, scoring three runs on a balk and RBI hits from Teegan Zillyett and Payson Parker to give Monte a 3-1 lead.

Monte added an insurance run on a Cyrus Parson sacrifice fly in the fifth and took a 6-1 lead on an RBI single by Zillyett followed by a run-scoring ground out off the bat of Evan Bates in the sixth inning.

That was all Wills would need as the junior right-hander allowed a run in the third inning on a hit batter followed by two Monte errors. Sixty-seven of Wills’ 100 pitches were for strikes.

The top of Monte’s order did the bulk of the damage against College Place. Of the Bulldogs’ 13 hits, 12 came from the top five batters in the lineup, including three-hit games by Zillyett and Aaron Lano.

College Place 001 000 0 — 1 2 2

Montesano 003 012 0 — 6 13 2

WP — Wills (7 IP, R, 0 ER, 2 H, 5 K, BB); LP — Justin McKenzie (3 IP, 3 ER, 7 H, 3 K)

Top Players: Montesano — Zillyett (3-4, 3B, R, 2 RBI); Lano (3-4, 2B, 2 R); Parker Plato (2-3, 2 R): Evan Bates (2-4, R, RBI); Payson Parker (2-4, RBI); Wills (1-3).

Regional Final

Seattle Christian 4, Montesano 3

After early miscues created a four-run deficit, Montesano’s comeback attempt fell short as the Bulldogs’ season ended with a 4-3 loss to Seattle Christian in the regional final of the 1A State Tournament Saturday afternoon in Castle Rock.

Five Montesano errors led to a pair of Seattle Christian runs in both the first and third innings as the Bulldogs fell behind 4-0 after three innings.

But Montesano (22-3 overall) responded with three runs in the top of the fourth inning on a bases-loaded walk by Braeden Dohrmann followed by Aaron Lano’s two-run double that was laced to the left-centerfield gap.

The Bulldogs had multiple chances to knot the game up as the tying run reached base in each of the final three innings, but the Warriors (18-5) consistently worked out of jams.

Monte’s best chance to tie the game came in the sixth inning, when Zillyett stepped to the plate with Lano on first and one out. The senior center fielder ripped the first pitch he saw from Warriors reliever Colin Heffernen to the gap in right-centerfield.

But Seattle Christian center fielder Jeffrey Sichmeller raced back toward the fence and did his best Willie Mays impersonation, laying out to make a spectacular catch and rob Zillyett of a game-tying extra-base hit.

Seattle Christian players celebrate after centerfielder Jeffrey Sichmeller, middle, robbed Montesano’s Teegan Zillyett of the potential game-tying hit in the sixth inning of a 1A regional final on Saturday in Castle Rock. (Ryan Sparks | Grays Harbor News Group)

“That goes down as one of the best high school plays I’ve ever seen,” Montesano head coach Mike Osgood said of Sichmeller’s clutch catch. “If that ball drops, it’s a triple and a tie ballgame with one out and a guy on third base. We’d have a good chance to take the lead right there. I told the boys it just seemed like all the breaks went (the other) way today.”

Monte had another chance to tie the game in the seventh when Evan Bates, who was aboard with a leadoff walk, reached second on a two-out error off a ball hit by Cy Parsons. After both runners advanced on a wild pitch, Heffernen got pinch hitter Cole Daniels to line out to right, ending the game and Monte’s bid for a state final four spot.

Montesano’s Cole Daniels is consoled after the final out of the Bulldogs’ 4-3 loss to Seattle Christian in a 1A regional final at Castle Rock High School. (Ryan Sparks | Grays Harbor News Group)

“We just weren’t us early, but Evan kept us in the game. … We had chances, it just seemed like we couldn’t catch a break,” said Osgood, whose team left 11 runners on base against the Warriors. “Good teams create their own breaks and today, we just struggled to create our own breaks.”

With the season ending earlier than he had hoped, Osgood reflected on a memorable season, one in which the Bulldogs won a district title.

“These guys really enjoyed playing with each other. They battled as a team all year long and to fall short like this, it hurts. They are all hurting.

“I’ve been coaching baseball for 18 years and I don’t know of a senior class that led as well as these guys, basically putting the team on their backs and willing it to win. This senior class (Bates, Zillyett, Shaydon Farmer, Payson Parker) is probably the most special that I’ve been around and they’ve had a lot of success and won a lot of baseball games. … I’m going to miss not having them. They’re not just good baseball players, but amazing kids.”

Montesano 000 300 0 — 3 4 5

Seattle Christian 202 000 0 — 4 7 1

WP — Nolan Stevenson (4.1 IP, 3 R, 3 ER, 4 H, 4 K, 7 BB); LP — Bates (6 IP, 4 R, ER, 7 K); SV — Heffernen (2.2 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 2 K, 3 BB)

Top Players: Montesano — Lano (1-3, 2B, 2 RBI); Zillyett (1-3); Bates (1-3); Farmer (1-3, R); Payson Parker (0-3, R); Carter Olson (0-2, R).

Montesano’s Teegan Zillyett (8) slides into second base as Seattle Christian infielder Connor Knack makes a throw to complete a double play during Saturday’s 1A regional final in Castle Rock. (Ryan Sparks | Grays Harbor News Group)