Walla Walla Community College split a doubleheader with Olympic College Saturday at Warrior Field, edging out the Rangers 3-2 in 11 innings in game one before being shut out 4-0 in the nightcap.
The Warriors and Rangers struggled to string together hits in the first game, netting just five runs despite combining for 24 hits.
“I thought our pitchers threw well all day,” WWCC coach Dave Meliah said in an email to the Union-Bulletin. “They kept us in both games when our offense was really struggling and ineffective.”
The Warriors held a 2-1 lead going into the top of the ninth thanks to a fifth-inning home run from Quentin Lafontaine and a sixth-inning sac-fly from Kealen Martin that brought home Cooper Larson, who had reached base on a double.
But the lead wouldn’t stand, as Olympic’s Hunter Blunt knocked an RBI double to even the score at 2-all. The Warriors had no answer in the ninth, sending the game into extra innings.
WWCC finally brought the game to an end in the 11th, when Devon Roe, pinch hitting for catcher Dimick Wood, drove in Larson on a two-out base hit to notch the victory.
“It was nice to be in a close game and find a way to come up with a couple big hits to win it,” Meliah said.
The Warrior bats fell silent in the second game, as the Rangers used three runs in the second and one more in the fourth to seal the victory.
The Warriors had multiple chances to score, leaving runners in scoring position in the first, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth innings, but were never able to capitalize.
The Warriors, 8-4 after Saturday’s action, next host Clark (8-3) for a doubleheader today at 11 a.m. at Warrior Field. Olympic is now 9-7.
First Game
Olympic00000100100—2131
Walla Walla00001100001—3110
Olsen, Gunther (9) and Blunt. Haughton, Hirai (5), Baldwin (8), Kaelber (11) and Wood.
HR — Walla Walla: Lafontaine.
Hits — Olympic: Koler 4, Gunther, Blunt, Cochran, Bayne 2, Chambers, Bryner 2, Alvis. Walla Walla: Coffey, Larson 4, Macdonald 2, Roe, Lafontaine 2, Loftus.
Second Game
Olympic030100000—481
Walla Walla000000000—054
Diehm, Hamrick (5), Morales (6) and Blunt. Washburn, Peterson (3), Evenhus (6), Oldham (8) and Lester, Musick (7).
HR — None.
Hits — Olympic: Koler, Blunt, Cochran 2, Chambers 3, Ponce. Walla Walla: Coffey, O’Rourke, Robinson, Lester, Musick.
Union Bulletin
