NAPAVINE — A ninth inning seemed almost inevitable.
After Napavine couldn’t plate a run in the top of the eighth, Hudson Chambers retired the first two Ilwaco batters he faced in the bottom half.
On the next at-bat, though, an infield popup fell between two defenders, extending the inning. Two Ilwaco base hits later, the Fishermen were celebrating a walk-off 5-4 win, one that put them in the district title game and sent Napavine to the consolation bracket.
“That’s a play that we make 99 percent of the time,” Napavine coach Brian Demarest said. “Unfortunately, that’s baseball. But that isn’t the deciding play. We had stuff before that that gave them a run here or there.”
Three of Ilwaco’s five runs came on balls that didn’t leave the infield.
After Napavine scored the first two runs of the game, Ilwaco got on the board when a runner on third scored despite being initially caught in a rundown.
The Tigers were able to extend their lead on an error and an RBI single from Cal Bullock in the top of the fifth, but the Fishermen were able to scratch across two more runs in the bottom half to get back within one.
The first came across on an RBI single, but the second scored on a wild pitch.
“Free bases killed us,” Demarest said.
Freshman Layton Griffith struggled at times on the mound, walking five and giving up five hits, but he was able to work his way out of a couple jams and left after six with the lead.
“We know that in the future, that’s gonna pay off,” Demarest said. “What he did today is gonna pay off next year when he’s a sophomore, and when he’s a junior. I like him in those spots. I trust him over a lot of kids.”
Demarest turned to Chambers in the seventh, and he had two strikes on Ilwaco’s Cody Kaino with two outs. Kaino was able to sneak a grounder through the left side, though, and the tying run trotted home from third to force extras.
Bullock finished 2 for 4 with two runs batted in, while Beckett Landram and Carter Edmonds both added two hits and scored a run.
Despite the loss, the Tigers (15-6) still have two more chances to secure a state tournament berth.
They’ll play Pe Ell-Willapa Valley on Friday, and the winner of that game will punch their ticket to state and advance to the district tournament third-place game.
The loser will play the loser of Toutle Lake and Toledo in the fifth-place game on Saturday. The winner of that game moves on to state, while the loser’s season will be over.
Demarest is confident in his team’s chances.
“I like a lot of the things we did,” Demarest said. “I feel good about where we’re at. I mean ultimately, it’s up to a bunch of 16- and 17-year-old kids, but hopefully they’ll be ready to go … All we have to do is give ourselves a chance to where we get to play again.”
