For the first time in seven years, bragging rights between the Olympia School District’s two baseball teams belong to the Capital Cougars.
Capital, led by a heroic performance from junior Brooks Barker, defeated Olympia 3-2 at Crandall Field Saturday afternoon, snapping a three-game skid against its crosstown rival. Barker not only limited Olympia’s offense to two runs on four hits while on the mound, but he pitched a complete game, struck out eight batters and hit a go-ahead three-run home run in the third inning.
His first homer of the season, a line drive to left field, served as the only runs necessary for Capital.
“Brooks did a tremendous job on the mound today, attacking the strike zone and changing speeds, and he did a rocket out to left to lead our offense as well,” Capital head coach Brian Shannon said.
Barker ran into trouble in the bottom of the first inning against the Bears, who cashed in on a leadoff double by Noah Miller as Sawyer Dean drove him in with an RBI single. Elijah Butler made it 2-0 Olympia via a sacrifice groundout.
Dean retired six of the first seven Cougars he faced before walking the first two in the third. After a strikeout, Barker ripped the three-run home run, celebrating with his team as he touched home plate.
It was a pitcher’s duel between Barker and the Bears bullpen from then on out. Barker worked a 1-2-3 third inning thanks to a pair of strikeouts, and Olympia reliever Silas Sciba left two leadoff singles by Capital wasted in the top of the fourth.
Connor Hardy’s two-out triple in the bottom of the fourth was also for naught, as Barker pitched into a groundout to end the frame. Hardy’s three-bagger was the final hit of the ballgame, as the rest of the baserunners came from walks and errors. The leadoff man reached base in each of the final two innings for Olympia but couldn’t score the game-tying run.
“Max Hanson called a great game behind the plate, and our defense played a clean game, which was huge,” Shannon said. “We’ve faced plenty of adversity this year, and our kids have been resilient and continued working hard. We couldn’t be happier for them getting the win today.”
Capital (7-10, 6-7 Puget Sound League) has three regular season games remaining, including two road contests next week at Lincoln (3-11, 2-11 PSL) on Tuesday and at Gig Harbor (11-6, 11-2 PSL) on Wednesday. The Cougars will celebrate their seniors on Monday, May 4 against Bellarmine (8-7, 8-5 PSL).
Olympia (15-5, 11-4 South Puget Sound League) has lost three of its last four games entering its final regular season bout against Rogers (6-12, 4-11 SPSL) for senior day Tuesday.
