SHORELINE — Scoring early runs to back the effort of ace Jacob Bogacz is usually a winning formula for the Jackson baseball team. It proved to be again Thursday in the Timberwolves’ 4A District 1 tournament loser-out game against Mount Vernon.
Ben Steck and Carter Booth hit home runs to lead Jackson’s 14-hit attack during the Timberwolves’ 9-5 win at Meridian Park. Jackson will play either Glacier Pea or Lake Stevens on Saturday for a berth to the 4A state tournament.
“We had a lot of energy,” Steck said. “We’ve been swinging the bats well the entire year, and we came out hot today.”
The Timberwolves took a 4-1 lead after the third inning, then broke the game open with three runs in the fourth and two more in the fifth.
Booth went 3-for-3 with a triple.
“We were swinging the bats aggressively,” Booth said. “We faced (Mount Vernon starting pitcher Ryan Morrill) earlier in the season and he shut us down, but we knew what his stuff was like. We jumped on him early and opened the floodgates.”
Bogacz pitched into the sixth inning, giving up two runs on three hits.
“The big thing is (we get to) keep playing — survive and advance,” said Jackson coach Kirk Nicholson. “This was a good game for us. We hit the ball hard, and Jacob threw well.”
BOYS SOCCER
Kamiak 4, Mount Vernon 3 (OT)
LAKE STEVENS — Cade Cooke scored off a corner kick in the fifth minute of the first period of extra time as the Knights eliminated the Bulldogs from the 4A District 1 tournament on Thursday.
Cooke, who also scored the first goal of the match for Kamiak (12-5-2), thumped in Manny Segura’s corner to send the Knights to a winner-to-state, loser-out game with Mariner on Saturday.
“We went right at them just as we had from the start of the game,” Kamiak coach Kosta Pitharoulis said of his team’s strategy in the overtime period. “We were comfortable with how things were going and we stuck with what was working.”
The Knights needed a penalty kick from Andre’ Hamilton to tie the game late in the second half, which the junior forward conveted after Noah Venditto was fouled in the box.
Francisco De La Cruz scored twice in the match for Mount Vernon (11-8), which saw its season end with the loss.
Shorecrest 4, Edmonds-Woodway 2
SHORELINE — Elliot Misic scored twice and added an assist as the Scots shrugged off a sluggish first half to eliminate the Warriors from the 3A District 1 tournament Thursday at Shoreline Stadium.
Shorecrest (9-6-4) clinched a state tournament berth and will face Squalicum in a seeding match on Saturday.
“We started out very slow today, and we were just playing poorly for most of the first half,” Shorecrest coach Drew Thompson said. “We found oursleves down 1-0, and Adrian made a play to tie it up. I don’t know what would have happened if he hadn’t done that.”
Adrian Ortega gave the Scots a jolt with his goal late in the first half, and then Noah Trostle scored on a free kick just after the break to give the Scots the lead for good.
“The guys just played their way into the game. They really showed some character tonight and dealt with the adversity of just kind of having a bad day.”
Thompson believes his side has the horses to beat Squalicum, which suffered its first loss of the season against Lynnwood on Tuesday in the tournament.
“Talent-wise, I think we’re good enough to beat them and our system that we have in place will work,” he said. “We need our talent to play well and put two good halves together, but I think if we play well we can win.”
Squalicum 5, Shorewood 1
SHORELINE — The Storm thumped the Thunderbirds in a 3A District 1 elimination game on Thursday, and have clinched a state tournament berth.
The Storm will face Shorecrest in a seeding match Saturday.
Shorewood ends its season at 8-9-2.
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