The Bearcats won their first two games of a weekend tournament in Ridgefield, defeating Anacortes 6-2 on Thursday and shutting out North Kitsap 10-0 on Friday to set up a date with Lynden on Saturday.
Five errors plus Lynden plating four runs in the bottom of the fifth was enough for it to triumph 10-7 over W.F. West, ending the latter’s perfect season and four-game winning streak to start the season.
“We struggled, had one of those days,” Bearcats coach Jesse Elam said. “Our pitchers did their job and Lynden is a good hitting team, but you can’t spot them five errors. We still battled, just couldn’t hold on.”
Down 4-1 after three innings, W.F. West (4-1) plated four runs to take a slim lead ignited by back-to-back RBI singles from Braden Jones and Ross Kelley. Lynden tied the game a handful of batters later on a run-scoring double, then the Lions took the lead for good in the four-run fifth.
The Bearcats began to mount a two-out rally with an RBI double by Connor Coleman and brought the tying run to the plate after a walk, but couldn’t finish the rally.
Kelley finished with three hits and three others recorded a pair of hits. Five different Bearcat hitters registered an RBI. Grady Westlund and Deacon Miller were named to the 12-person all-tournament team.
“We feel good about where we are at,” Elam said. “We have just a few adjustments to make.”
