BELLEVUE — Passed balls, crucial errors, too many walks. The Snohomish Panthers flatly didn’t play clean enough during their 3A state tournament opening-round game against Bonney Lake, and they paid the price.
“In this game today, we self destructed,” Snohomish coach Kim Hammons said. “We beat ourselves. We had some passed balls, and that led to a lot of extra bases for Bonney Lake and some extra runs. Bonney Lake also came through and got a lot of clutch hits. For our benefit, we hit the ball very hard. We just couldn’t find any holes, and that’s baseball for you.”
Snohomish starting pitcher Kyle Sandifer yielded only eight hits, but he walked four and didn’t get much help from his defense, which made three errors, as the Panthers suffered a 9-1 season-ending loss Saturday morning at Bannerwood Park.
Snohomish pushed a run across in the top of the first off Isaac Everett’s hard-hit RBI single up the middle, but the Panthers couldn’t get anything else going the rest of the game against Bonney Lake starter Kaiden Howard.
Snohomish’s best opportunity came in the top of the fourth when they loaded the bases with two outs, but Sandifer hit a hard liner right at Bonney Lake’s left fielder.
“If the ball is in the gap, hey, this is a different ball game,” Hammons said. “We had three other lineouts to outfielders and infielders. That’s baseball. Sometimes you love it, sometimes you hate it. Some days you are finding holes and other days you just aren’t.”
The game was tied 1-1 in the bottom of the third when the game’s momentum swung in Bonney Lake’s favor following the first of three passed balls that advanced runners. With runners on first and second and one out, Sandifer delivered a pitch catcher Logan Gates couldn’t handle. Gates couldn’t locate the ball, and Bonney Lake scored all the way from second, and the runner on first advanced to third.
Bonney Lake’s Cameron Campbell followed with an RBI single to extend the lead to 3-1, and Bonney Lake was on its way.
Bonney Lake, also nicknamed the Panthers, added three more runs in the fourth, two more in the fifth and one in the sixth.
Brandon Jodock entered in the fifth to relieve Sandifer, who went 41⁄3 innings.
Adam Ivelia went 2-for-3 with a double and a walk and Everett, Sandifer and Jaden McClure and Chase Christian accounted for the rest of Snohomish’s six hits with one apiece.
“We didn’t play clean, and that was a killer,” Hammons said. “You have to play clean in any big game that you are in. Anytime you qualify for state it is outstanding. We just made too many mistakes and hit the at-em ball.”
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
