3A bi-district baseball: Up-and-down day for Mountain View

Every baseball season has ups, downs and times when a team is tested.

Mountain View’s opening day in the 3A bi-district tournament started up and ended down. Now the Thunder will be tested.

Mountain View (18-4) won its tournament opener 7-4 over Yelm on Saturday morning at Propstra Stadium.

But a 9-1 loss to Capital of Olympia in the afternoon denied the Thunder a state playoff berth and knocked them into the consolation round.

To reach state, the 3A Greater St. Helens League champion must win two-loser out games, starting Wednesday against Wilson of Tacoma. That game is at Tacoma’s Foss High School.

“We’ve got to see what we’re made of,” Thunder coach Aaron Coiteux said. “We haven’t had our backs against the wall very much this year. If we can survive these next two games, it will show me a lot.”

Capital (14-7) won its bi-district opener over Mount Tahoma 10-5, scoring eight of its runs in the fourth inning or later.

The Cougars’ bats stayed hot into the next game against Mountain View. They scored four runs with two outs in the top of second to take a 5-0 lead.

Mountain View, which had a four-hour break after its morning win, couldn’t get its bats re-started. Capital’s Brett Strock threw a complete game, allowing six hits and walking two.

“He had three pretty good pitches,” Mountain View outfielder Garrett Moen said. “He had good command on his fastball and curveball. We put good swings on him, they just weren’t falling.”

Mountain View scored its lone run in the sixth inning. Spencer Warner led off the inning with a single, then scored on Mitchell Allison’s two-out single.

“We don’t give up,” Coiteux said. “Even when we were down 9-0, the kids were still in it. They had a lot of energy still. Sometimes you’ve just got to tip your cap to their pitcher, who was really good today.”

Mountain View opening win over Yelm showed both Jasper Rank’s efficiency and the Thunder’s resiliency.

Rank threw just 73 pitches in a complete-game victory. The only inning that saw more than one runner reach base was the fifth, where Yelm scored four runs with two outs to tie the game 4-4.

But Mountain View retook the lead in the bottom of the fifth on Quinn Rook’s two-out double that scored Grant Francis.

The Thunder tacked on two insurance runs in the sixth. Andrew Selden hit an RBI single and later scored from third on a balk.

That was all the offense needed for Rank, who also had a two-RBI double in the first inning to put Mountain View ahead 2-0.

Now, Mountain View must again summon its resiliency, this time with the season on the line.

“This team has grit,” Moen said. “We’re going to get back to it Monday and Tuesday at practice. Hopefully Wednesday we’ll take care of business.”

MOUNTAIN VIEW 7, YELM 4

Yelm 000 040 0 — 4 8 2

Mtn. View 200 212 x – 7 12 2

Yelm

Pitching – Austin Schaler 4.1 IP, 1K, 1 BB; Coby Doyle 1.2 IP, 2 K, 1 BB. Offensive highlights – Austin Schaler 1-4, R, RBI, 2B; Griffen Schnetz 1-3, R, RBI, 2B; Ryan Sheedy 2-3, R, RBI, 3B; Kodee Gifford 1-3, RBI, 3B; Kyle Robinson 1-3; Brady Bytheway 2-3, R.

Mountain View

Pitching – Jasper Rank 7 IP, 4 K, 0 BB. Offensive highlights – Garrett Moen 0-2, 2 R, SB; Andrew Selden 3-4 2 R, RBI; Spencer Warner 1-4; Grant Francis 1-4, R, 2B; Jasper Rank 2-4, 2 RBI, 2B; Isaiah Parker 1-4, R; Quinn Rooks 2-3, R, RBI, 2B; Andrew Gulliford 2-3, R, RBI, SB.

CAPITAL 9, MOUNTAIN VIEW 1

Capital 140 040 0 – 9 8 1

Mtn.View 000 001 0 – 1 6 2

Capital

Pitching – Brett Stock 7 IP, 5 K, 2 BB. Offensive highlights – Silas Jensen 1-5, 2 R, 3B, SB; Chase Cleveringa 2-4, R, 3 RBI, 2B; Kyle Casperson 2-4, R, RBI, 2 2B; Zach Burke 1-3, R; Carson Kero 1-4, 2 R, RBI, 2B, Gabe Taylor 2-4, R, RBI.

Mountain View

Pitching – Andrew Selden 2 IP, 4 K, 5 BB; Hayden Minich 3 IP, 1 K, 0 BB; Jake Seale 2 IP, 1 K. Offensive highlights – Garrett Moen 1-4; Spencer Warner 1-3, R; Grant Francis 1-3; Isaiah Parker 1-3, 2B; Mitchell Allison 1-3, RBI; Andrew Gulliford 1-3, 2B.