4/11/16

Olympia 10, Yelm 1

(Olympia, WA) Yelm’s starting pitcher Daylon Mathews got off to a strong start against the 2nd place Bears facing only 11 batters in the 1st three innings while grabbing a 1-0 lead. The Tornados took the lead in the top of the 3rd when Cash Boulch led off with a single. Ryan Reynolds would sac bunt him over to 2nd and he would score on a ground ball by Ryan Sheedy who reached on an error and Boulch scored.

Bears starting pitcher Derek Downey was solid as a rock striking out 6 while going the distance. Other than losing control a couple of times hitting 3 batters Downey was in control and kept them in the game until the bottom of the 4th when the Bears offense broke loose.

Ben Pedigo would lead off the critical 4th inning with a single followed by a single from Dalton Elliott. Brenden Nee then popped one to right field but Kodee Gifford overran the ball and it fell in for a base hit and Pedigo scored. Christian Valdez then came through with our ProActive Physical Therapy play of the game with a 2 run single giving the Bears a 3-1 lead they would never surrender. Valdez would eventually score on a wild pitch and Tristan Haider would grab an RBI on a fielder’s choice making it 5-1 after 4.

The Bears would add to their lead with 2 more in the bottom of 5 when Nee got aboard on a 2 out error. Valdez then struck-out but was able to hustle down to 1st and beat out the throw on the dropped 3rd strike and 2 were aboard. Nee and Valdez would score on a fly ball to center from James Gunther that was dropped by Boulch and it was 7-1 after 6.

The Bears nearly got the 10-run win in the bottom of the 6 when Haider led off with a base hit followed by a walk to Scott Gunther. Skyler Davis then singled to fill the bases. Ben Pedigo then unloaded with a shot to the left-center gap clearing the bases with a 3-run double. With no outs all the Bears had to do was score Pedigo for the 10-run win. It looked like Valdez just may do that with 1 out he singled to right but Pedigo was held up at 3rd. But the Bears would strand Pedigo at 3rd and Downey would finish the job he started for the complete game win.

The Bears are now 6-1 in league play and 8-2 overall while Yelm drops to 1-4 and 4-6. Our Tommy Lowe of the Greene Realty Group Players of the Game went to Ben Pedigo of Olympia and Ryan Sheedy for Yelm.

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