ADNA — Adna and Toutle Lake have made a habit of playing each other in big games the last two years.
In 2023, the Ducks topped the Pirates in a district semifinal, but Adna ultimately topped Toutle Lake in the state semis. Last spring, Toutle Lake won the district title game and the state third-place game over the Pirates.
There wasn’t as much on the line on Wednesday when the two teams met for the first time this spring, but the Pirates were still pleased to get a win over their league rival.
“It felt good to finally beat them after last year and how it ended,” Cameron Nakano said.
Nakano was brilliant on the mound, and the Pirates came through with multiple timely hits to come away with a 7-1 victory, their 11th in a row.
“I’d be lying to you if the boys and myself didn’t want that W bad,” Adna coach Jake Overbay said. “The boys stayed in the game, and it was fun to see them pick each other up.”
Nakano worked around some traffic on the basepaths in the first two frames, and the Pirates scored on two wild pitches in the second to give him some support.
They added two more runs on an error in the third, and Nakano continued to cruise.
“Cameron did a very great job of competing on the mound,” Overbay said. “He came up with some big outs, some very impactful at-bats that went our way, and it was because he was ready to compete.”
The closest Toutle Lake got to breaking through came in the top of the sixth. After back-to-back doubles, Nakano hit a batter to put two on and one out. He got the next batter to ground into a fielder’s choice, struck the following batter out, and he got some help from Mat Roundtree, who made a diving grab on a blooper to center to end the inning.
“I had to locate really good,” Nakano said. “A lot of their hitters have really good eyes, and obviously their first couple can swing it. I mainly just had to focus on locating my curveball and being able to locate my fastball at times.”
Ty Bodenhamer gave the Pirates some insurance heading into the seventh, clearing the bases with a double in the bottom of the sixth to double the lead.
“That helped me a lot,” Nakano said. “Knowing that it wasn’t 4-1, it was 7-1, we could just execute how we needed to.”
Nakano ended up allowing six hits and one run while walking one and striking out eight. Danner Hoinowski collected two hits in three at-bats, and he also drew a walk. Bodenhamer finished 1 for 2 with two walks and his three-run double.
Three different Pirates drew multiple walks, and they finished with 10 walks as a team.
The Pirates have now won 11 games in a row to open the season, including 10 league games.
“I’m really impressed with their behavior and how they’re growing as a team,” Overbay said. “We’re really building a good chemistry and a good environment here where I think everybody’s starting to establish and understand their roles.”
Adna will go for the sweep of Toutle Lake on Friday in Toutle before returning home to host Onalaska on Saturday morning.
