Photo by Ben Miller
ON THE MOUND. Stadium’s Anthony McCarthy pitched all seven innings in the Tigers’ 10-4 win against the Curtis Vikings in the first round of the West Central District playoffs. McCarthy earned the win, giving up five hits while striking out nine.
After starting 0-4 in the Narrows League season, the Stadium Tigers rebounded in a big way heading into the West Central District playoffs. The Tigers won eight in a row to end the season and the Narrows League playoffs before facing the Curtis Vikings in the opening round of the district tournament May 10.
No. 3 and 4 hitters Kevin Meyers and Tony Rossetto both hit home runs as the Tigers stretched their winning streak to nine with a 10-4 win against the Vikings. That set up a showdown with fellow Narrows League competitor South Kitsap for a bid to State.
In the game, senior Anthony McCarthy pitched all seven innings, giving up four runs – only three earned – and five hits while striking out nine Vikings.
Curtis jumped on the scoreboard first. After Corey Moore struck out to lead off the game, catcher Jordan Martin hit a double to get on base. Three batters later, with two outs, outfielder Jacob Hoffman hit a single to drive in Martin. On the base paths, however, Kyle Phillips was thrown out at third after the run was scored to end the inning.
The Tigers did not wait long to respond. Jay Skilton led off the bottom of the first inning with a double and scored later in the inning on a wild pitch. Then, Rossetto hit his home run with nobody on base to put Stadium up 2-1.
After both teams went down in order in the second, Curtis tied the game at 2-2 when Moore scored from second on a single by Martin. It was in the third and fourth innings, however, that the Tigers broke the game open with their offense.
Brandon Williams led things off in the bottom of the third with a single to the left side, and with two outs, Meyers and Rossetto drew back-to-back walks to load the bases. McCarthy then came up and gave himself a boost to take back with him on the mound by hitting a single to send Meyers and Williams across the plate.
Rossetto then scored after a throwing error on the Curtis catcher to allow the Tigers to jump out to a 5-2 lead. It was the last lead change of the ballgame. In the bottom of the fourth inning, the Tigers scored another four runs, including two of them on a home run by Meyers to left center field. The Tigers were cruising, up 9-2.
Rossetto went 2-3 in the game with an RBI and two runs scored, and Williams scored two runs as the Tigers’ No. 9 hitter.
In game two, against South Kitsap, the offensive firepower of the Tigers disappeared. The Wolves scored a 12-1 victory in five innings to end Stadium’s season one game shy of the state playoffs.
Meyers drove in the Tigers’ only run of the ballgame with a double in the fourth inning, and junior Seth Timpke was tagged with the loss.
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