Two days after Northwest Christian used a sixth-inning burst to defeat Quilcene 13-8 Wednesday, the Rangers got revenge with a sixth-inning eruption of their own Friday to beat the Wolverines 8-4.
Another back-and-forth battle began with Quilcene pushing two runs across home plate in the first inning. Northwest Christian put its first two runners on base to start the second inning before Quilcene ace Eli Allen struck out three in a row.
The Rangers added a run in the third, and Marshall Guyer took matters into his own hands for Northwest Christian. His RBI single in the third inning put the Wolverines on the scoreboard, and he followed it up in the top of the sixth with a solo home run to left field to make it a one-run game. Four batters later, Kanakoa Paresa tied the game on an RBI single.
After Wolverines starter Parker Cox recorded the first out in the sixth, the Rangers flipped the game on its head with the next seven batters reaching base, including a go-ahead RBI single by Max Canterbury, an RBI triple by Allen, and a two-run home run by Oliver Hopkins. In total, Quilcene scored five times in the sixth, and the Wolverines could only respond with one run in the top of the seventh.
“We hung with their best pitcher for five innings. Parker pitched a really good game overall, but they put together some good at bats in the sixth and had the big inning that we were looking for but never got,” Northwest Christian head coach Jordan Potis said. “I’m proud of the effort our guys gave today and am encouraged by what I saw.”
Cox pitched 5.2 innings and struck out six batters, allowing eight runs (seven earned) on 10 hits and five walks.
Northwest Christian (7-4, 3-4 Sea-Tac League) will square off against Muckleshoot Tribal School (1-6, 1-4 Sea-Tac League) for a two-game series next week.
