MOUNT VERNON — The Edmonds-Woodway baseball team skipped practice on Wednesday, choosing instead to attend the Seattle Mariners game at Safeco Field.
They’re headed back to SoDo next weekend, and they won’t be wearing the cowboy hats they wore to Wednesday’s game.
It took 10 innings, but the Warriors finally got past the Arlington Eagles 8-7 Saturday in a Class 3A state quarterfinal game at Skagit Valley College.
E-W (19-6) advances to next weekend’s state semifinals at Safeco Field where it will take on Gig Harbor at 7 p.m.
“We said, ‘(Safeco) is where we’re going to be next week,’ and you know what? They believed it and they achieved it,” E-W coach Dan Somoza said. “It’s fun to see kids working toward a common goal and something they have wanted to do all year long.”
It’s the culmination of a season that saw E-W win the Wesco South regular-season title and the district title over division rival Shorewood last weekend in Shoreline.
It is the first trip to the state semifinals in Warriors history.
“You kind of wish past teams had done it, but we’re very proud to be that team to start it up,” E-W senior Kosta Cooper said.
Arlington (21-5) saw its season end in the state quarterfinals for the second consecutive year. Nevertheless, it has been an unprecedented run of success for the Eagles, who prior to last year hadn’t been to state since 1994. Arlington captured the Wesco North regular-season title and earned the third seed out of the district tournament.
“We had that expectation in us and it’s tough to be upset when they have expectations like that for themselves,” Arlington coach Scott Striegel said. “They had the expectation that we were playing next weekend.”
The Eagles very nearly were. They overcame two-run deficits in the third and seventh innings to force extras, and even brought the tying run to third base after trailing 8-5 heading into the bottom of the 10th.
“It took the whole team — it took guts,” Somoza said. “It took our selfless, relentless attitude that these kids have had all year long. Our seniors and everybody through that lineup did something special today to get us here and I couldn’t be prouder of my team.”
The Warriors went ahead for good in the top of the 10th. It started when Cooper struck out, but reached first when the ball got by the catcher. Then came a walk and back-to-back hit batsmen to force in a run. Nick Hull’s infield single added another run before yet another hit batsman made it a three-run cushion.
E-W ended up needing every one of those runs as Jake Russell’s two-out, two-strike RBI double pulled the Eagles within a run before Warriors reliever Brandon Mitchell induced a game-ending pop-up.
“That’s the kind of fight these kids have in them,” Striegel said. “There was a lot of excitement between the two teams because both teams have that fight and both teams were excited, both teams were playing well and it was an awesome game.”
Tied 3-3 entering the seventh, the Warriors forged in front against Arlington reliever Jack Sheward. Mitchell led off with a double and Garrison Krohn was intentionally walked. Both moved up on a groundout, and then Hull singled in Mitchell for a 4-3 lead. Pinch-hitter Sam Alvarado laid down a suicide squeeze bunt to score Krohn and pushed the advantage to 5-3 heading into the bottom of the seventh.
But Arlington rallied. Gavin Rork singled and Trevor Kazen walked and with two outs, Jack Sheward doubled in both runners to tie the game 5-5.
“We talked about that — when adversity hits, what are you going to do?” Somoza said. “You just take it and you move on. The kids have really bought into that this year.”
E-W previously tied it in the top of the fifth. Julian Kodama reached on an error and Krohn singled him in to make it 3-3.
The Warriors took the game’s first lead with three consecutive two-out base hits in the top of the third. Cooper singled and Kodama followed with a double. Mitchell then doubled into the gap in right-center to score both and E-W led 2-0.
The Eagles answered in the bottom of the third. With two outs Kazen and Tristan Sheward drew back-to-back walks. Then Jack Sheward drove the ball over the left field fence to give Arlington a 3-2 lead.
That was the lone mistake made by Cooper, who went six-plus innings before being lifted after reaching his pitch count. Cooper also caught all seven innings of E-W’s first-round victory earlier in the day.
“I’m really tired — I’m exhausted,” the clearly elated Cooper said. “I’ve been doing it my entire life so I’m kind of used to it. I was just so excited and had all the adrenaline going. I was ready to pitch.”
Edmonds-Woodway 3, Mountain View 1 (loser-out)
The Warriors ensured an All-Wesco regional final as they beat the Mountain View Thunder 3-1 in a first-round regional contest Saturday afternoon.
E-W starter Hull struck out 10 and scattered four hits and three walks in six-plus innings to earn the win on the mound. The one run Hull allowed came in the top of the first inning when Mountain View’s Garrett Moen singled and reached third on a pair of errors before scoring on a groundout.
The Warriors drew even in the bottom of the inning when Cooper singled and later scored on a single by Mitchell. E-W took the lead in the bottom of the third when Kodama scored on a bases-loaded walk to Jacob Kitchen.
The Warriors pushed it to 3-1 in the fifth when Cooper singled, stole third and scored on a throwing error.
Cooper finished 2-for-3 with two runs scored and Mitchell was 2-for-2 with an RBI to lead the Warriors.
Mountain View finished its season 15-10.
Arlington 2, Eastside Catholic 0 (loser out)
Brothers Tristan and Jack Sheward combined to strike out 14 Eastside Catholic hitters in a complete-game three-hitter earlier Saturday in a 2-0 win over the Crusaders.
Tristan Sheward struck out 13 and allowed three hits before reaching his pitch limit after an error and a hit put Eastside Catholic runners at the corners with two outs in the seventh. He swapped positions with catcher and younger brother Jack, who walked the first hitter he saw to load the bases before striking out the next hitter to save the game for his brother.
Jack Sheward gave the Eagles the only run they needed in the second. He was hit by a pitch, stole second and third, and scored on Russell’s two-out RBI single to left field to give Arlington a 1-0 lead.
The Eagles pushed their advantage to 2-0 in the top of the third. Owen Bishop reached on an error and scored when Rork followed with a double to left.
Eastside Catholic (17-6) got 11 strikeouts from starter Justin Armbruester in five innings.
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