All the W.F. West Bearcats needed offensively to sneak past the Chief Sealth Seahawks in the 2A state opening round Saturday morning was a two-run double by junior Miles Martin in the second inning.
Pitchers Hayden Rooney and Emmett Goodman and the Bearcats defense prevented Seahawks runners from scoring in six of the seven innings in a 2-0 win at W.F. West High School. With the win, the fourth-seeded Bearcats advance to the state quarterfinals for the fourth straight season and will clash with the winner of the R.A. Long and Othello opening round matchup Saturday afternoon.
Rooney worked his way out of a leadoff single in the first, and the Bearcats stranded their own leadoff runner in the first. Alex Stafford ignited the second-inning rally with a weak single back to Seahawks pitcher Sam Popelka, and Beckman Dvorak’s ensuing walk gave Martin the opportunity to drive in a pair with one out.
He cranked a line drive that just barely snuck inside the right field line on a double that scored Stafford and Dvorak, and he advanced to third on the throw. Rooney continued to wiggle through walks and singles, leaving two on in the third and one stranded in the fourth. W.F. West’s bats fell silent, as Popelka retired nine in a row entering the sixth.
Rooney exited in the sixth with two runners on and two outs, and sophomore righty Emmett Goodman delivered an inning-ending strikeout to keep the shutout alive. In the Bearcats’ half of the sixth, Weston Potter and Stafford reached base, but Dvorak grounded into a double play that the Seahawks first baseman took care of by himself.
With Goodman back on the hill in the seventh, second baseman Hiro Smaciarz’ errant throw on a ground ball put the leadoff runner at first, and Goodman walked the following batter on four pitches. The closer caught the next batter whiffing, and the Bearcats infield, which had surrendered three errors, turned a picturesque double play to close out the shutout victory.
W.F. West (22-3) now heads to the state quarterfinals, a round that gave the Bearcats some trouble against Columbia River last year after two straight semifinal appearances prior. If the Bearcats win Saturday afternoon, they will advance to the final four in Bellingham next weekend for a shot to win their first state championship since 2013.
