The Lakeside Junior Legion A baseball team pushed Woodinville to the brink, but came up just short Wednesday night in a bid for a state championship.
Battling their way from the losers’ bracket, the group of 15-and-under players from Skyline and Issaquah needed to beat Woodinville twice for the title.
Lakeside took care of business in the first game with an 8-2 victory, capped by a seven-run third inning.
Lakeside dropped the second, winner-take-all game, 14-5 after coming back from an early 5-0 deficit. They rallied for four runs in the bottom of fourth and another in the fifth, tying the contest, 5-5. Woodinville exploded for nine runs in the final two innings, however, highlighted by six runs in the top of the seventh.
Lakeside opened the tournament on Saturday with a 10-0 win over the University Titans, followed by a 10-0 win Sunday over the host Moses Lake Sun Devils. Matt Lunde pitched five innings of one-hit ball against University, striking out 10. Every Lakeside starter had at least one hit, led by Ethan Kalin and Jake Bakamus two hits apiece.
Jimmy Sinatro allowed up just one Moses Lake hit and struck out 11 in six innings on Sunday. He also had three hits.
Lakeside fell 11-5 to Woodinville on Monday, before battling back to beat South Kitsap, 11-8, on Tuesday.
Lakeside ended its season with a 22-13 record.
Lakeside-Skyline comes up short
The Lakeside-Skyline Junior Legion AA teams’ run at a state championship came to an end Wednesday, July 29 with a 3-1 loss to Graham-Kapowsin.
Lakeside-Skyline opened the 16-team tournament July 25 and 26 in Cheney with wins over Ferris and Graham-Kapowsin. They followed on July 27 with a 13-2 loss to the Kennewick Junior Bandits, before defeating Anacortes, 8-2, on July 28. Graham-Kapowsin got its revenge the following day, however, handing Lakeside its second loss of the double-elimination tournament.
The Kennewick Junior Bandits won the Junior Legion AA tournament, defeating Chehalis for the title. Kennweick moved on to the regional championship, Aug. 7-11 in Ogden, Utah.
