FIRST REPORT, 3:05 PM: We’re in Tacoma, where the West Seattle High School baseball team’s season has just ended with a second-round loss at the state 3A tournament. Though in baseball a loss is a loss, whether it’s by one run or 10, this one was a valiantly fought close call to a much-higher seeded team – 2nd-seeded Gig Harbor 3, 14th-seeded WSHS 2. Full story after we get back to HQ.

ADDED 8:46 PM: As happens so often in baseball, one rally can make the difference.

Just a few hits, and some aggressive base-running early on, made the difference for the Gig Harbor Tides.

Their three runs came on seven hits, and they left nine runners on base; the Wildcats’ two runs resulted from four hits, with five runners left on.

Gig Harbor’s starting pitcher, junior Quentin Bockhorn, had a three-up three-down top of the first, while the Tides scored their first run in the top of the 1st, off WSHS’s starting pitcher, junior Jacob McCall. It could have been worse, though, , as that came with the bases loaded, and McCall limited the damage with a strikeout for the inning’s final out.

West Seattle’s first hit came from sophomore Cole Williamson in the top of the second, with one out, but senior Clay Pecore hit into a double play after that. The next scoring happened in the bottom of the third, when the Tides brought in two runs on three hits, bringing the score to 3-0.

That was all the scoring Gig Harbor did, but it’s all they needed. The Wildcats got a base runner in the top of the fourth, after senior Lukas Cheha drew a walk, but this inning too ended with a double play. Gig Harbor threatened again in their half of the inning, with senior Jayce Corley hitting a leadoff single, making it to third with just one out, but getting stranded there.

West Seattle’s hopes were high with a two-out rally in the fifth inning. Pecore battled to a full count and then walked. Senior Dex Pudduck singled, and there were runners at the corners. Junior Leo Bronk came in next to pinch-hit and got a hit on the first pitch, bringing Pecore in. But a strikeout ended the rally there.

WSHS head coach Ryan Ramsower put senior Oliver Heltzel on the mound for the bottom of the fifth, and went through three Tides quickly. Then it was the Wildcats’ turn; Cheha got a first-pitch hit, and was at third with two outs – a spectator shouted, “Bring him home”- and junior Sacha Ninburg did. But the rally ended there, and so did the scoring. West Seattle got close again in the top of the seventh – with two on and one out – but Gig Harbor changed pitchers, bringing in lefty freshman Max Bergford, and he struck out two to end the game, and WSHS’s season.

-Tracy Record, WSB editor