Their baseball season was deemed a success, even though the final game was a downer for the Mountain View Thunder.
Decatur of Federal Way scored an unearned run in the first, got another in the seventh, and pitcher Chris Carns shut out the Thunder 2-0 Saturday in a Class 3A bi-district tournament elimination game.
Mountain View’s season came to an end one win away from clinching a berth to the state tournament.
The Thunder reached state last year, then had to replace 12 seniors — including eight starters.
“At the beginning of the year, our goal was to make it to bi-district,” Mountain View coach Aaron Coiteux said. “We did it. We won a co-league title and we won the district title. With a group of brand-new kids, you couldn’t ask for more.”
Mountain View junior Dakody Clemmer was superb on the hill, giving up one earned run in the complete-game loss.
But he and the rest of the Thunder were disappointed that they could not find a timely hit to score against Decatur.
“I just wish we could have started to swing the bats,” said Clemmer, who had one of Mountain View’s two hits against Carns. “Hitting’s contagious. Once we get on a roll, you can’t stop us.”
There was never any roll for Mountain View this day, though.
While limited to two hits, the Thunder had plenty of chances. With walks and a hit batter, Mountain View had 11 baserunners total.
“In crucial situations, with guys on, we couldn’t get the one hit,” Coiteux said. “And we made two mistakes in the field.”
Those were costly, too.
Decatur did not drive in a run against the Thunder, getting one run on an error in the first, and another with a run-down play in the seventh.
Mitchell Ciotta and Jim Sullivan got hits for Decatur, putting runners on first and third. Sullivan got in a rundown between first and second, and Mountain View bit on the play. Ciotta then scooted home in front of the throw to make it 2-0.
Mountain View’s Russel Culverwell earned a lead-off walk in the bottom of the seventh, but the next three batters went down, two via strikeout.
Carns struck out 11, including five in the final two innings.
Clemmer struck out three, and at one point retired 11 in a row after that first-inning error.
He is excited about the team’s future.
“Our program is going to keep building,” Clemmer said. “We’re going to keep progressing, doing good. Mountain View is a good baseball school now.”
