BELLINGHAM – Postseason baseball in Whatcom County is a lot of fun. The sun finally shines, the bats warm up a bit; and for the Sehome Mariners, their arms were in playoff form. Taking on the district #12 seed Lakewood Cougars, Evan Kingma pitched an absolute gem, leading the Mariners to a “do-or-die” victory in the first round of the District 1 baseball playoffs at Joe Martin Field.
Kingma pitched six full inning, giving up no hits, walking only one and struck out eight batters in the process. The ‘no hitter’ buzz at Joe Martin started in the fifth inning, but Coach Monte Walton chose to save his ace’s arm for the playoff run, bringing in freshman Jacob Kaepernick to close the door in the seventh, which he did with three straight ground outs to seal a combined no hitter for the Mariners. Kingma’s lone walk in the fourth inning, was the only batter to reach base for the visiting Cougars.
The Mariners were up 1-0 going into the fifth inning, when they broke everything open. With one out, in the home fifth, Josh Manson bunted himself on base. Shane Jamison then walked, setting the stage for a Kaepernick double, scoring both. It did not stop there. Makana Grondin then singled, walks for Mel Ketteridge and Patrick Miksovsky, as well as a base-hit from Tim Malo helped Sehome pour it on for a seven-run inning. That was seven runs of insurance that Kingma and Kaepernick really didn’t need.
At the plate, the entire Mariner line-up produced following the opening RBI double from Jamison in the third. Trevor Seaholm, Jamison, Malo, and Miksovsky all drove in runs to lead Sehome.
Next up, the Mariners will take on Archbishop Murphy of the Cascade Conference, on Saturday at 12 noon, down at Daniels Park in Anacortes. This will be a part of a double elimination tournament from this point on.
– BLAKE WITMAN
WhatcomPreps.com
