RIDGEFIELD — Nearly 24 hours had passed since Tumwater’s eight-run sixth inning in its district quarterfinal win, but the T-Birds were still able to carry that momentum into Wednesday, when they needed just five innings to dispatch Hockinson 11-1 in a semifinal in Ridgefield.
The win puts the Thunderbirds in the district title game for the fourth time in the last five years and sends them to the state tournament for a fourth year in a row.
The T-Birds jumped on top instantly, scoring three runs in the first on a sacrifice fly, an error, and a Jimmy Womach RBI double, and a Will Bond RBI single made it 4-0 after two.
“You can have all the confidence in the world and try to do too much, and they didn’t,” Tumwater coach Lyle Overbay said. “They took their at-bats. They had good at-bats to start the game … If we’re attacking the zone and sticking to our strengths, we're a good team.”
They continued to add on with three in the third, and a three-run little league home run from Charlie Crawford in the fourth pushed the T-Birds lead to double-digits.
He was greeted by a rowdy batch of teammates that poured onto the turf to celebrate.
“I just love their confidence,” Overbay said. “Just the team atmosphere right now. Our dugout’s been in the game, they've got each other’s back. Those are things that go a long way that are unwritten.”
On the mound, Luke Houk was stellar. He retired the first nine batters he faced and eventually finished giving up just three hits and one run while striking out five.
His teammates referred to him as “Skenes”, not just for his mustache that resembles the Pittsburgh Pirates’ ace, but also his curveball that kept Hockinson hitters off balance all evening.
“That was my payoff pitch today,” Houk said. “It’s been right up there with my fastball this whole year … I know I can throw it for a strike a lot, so I go to it quite a bit.”
Houk said that he and his teammates wanted to walk the line between cocky and confident heading into the matchup, and the consistent run support only helped him find his groove.
“I think it’s super important going into the game with the mindset that we gotta win,” Houk said. “Our whole team did a great job of staying up in the dugout and stuff. It’s nice to be able to use that excitement on the mound.”
Next up for Tumwater is another clash with W.F. West in the district title game on Saturday in Ridgefield. It’ll be the sixth time since 2013 that the two teams have met in the district championship game.
W.F. West has won each of the prior five in that time span. If the T-Birds are able to knock off the Bearcats, they’ll bring home their first district title since 2015.
“We’ve got something to prove,” Overbay said. “If we want to get to the top, we need to beat the top. They’re at the top right now, so we’ve got to do some things … I think we’re very evenly matched, so it’s a matter of doing the little things.”
