MEDICAL LAKE – The Cardinals escaped with a hard-fought 7–5 home win over the Freeman Scotties in the first round action of the district playoffs on May 7.
Medical Lake started strong, scoring four runs in the bottom of the first inning thanks to a pair of doubles and a home run.
“Kaleb Cain got hit by a pitch, so he got on base and Eugene Haas knocked a line drive double to center field, moving Cain to third. Andrew Roberts followed that up with a line drive double that scored Cain and Hass, putting us in the lead,” Head Coach Austin Sharp said. “Then Joe Oliver crushed a home run to center that brought Roberts in and we went up by three.”
Up 4-1, the Cardinal offense fell silent for several innings and Freeman started to chip away at the Medical Lake lead.
A Scottie’s runner stole home in the top of the third to close the gap to 4–2. During the same at-bat, Freeman scored another run thanks to a line drive single that brought another runner home, bringing the score to 4-3.
Two innings later, Freeman was able to get a couple of base runners in scoring position. A line drive single to center brought both across the dish and the Scotties took a 5-4 lead.
The Cardinals put together a solid sixth inning and regained the lead.
“After getting a walk and a single, we scored on a pop fly double that brought Joe Oliver in for the tying run,” Sharp said. “Then Cameron Comer scored on a ball that went past the catcher and into the backstop. Cain got his third hit of the day, which was another double and it scored Taylor Oliver putting us up 7-4.”
Freeman had one final push in the top of the seventh inning, but Medical Lake held on to win it.
“Eugene Haas had to go and make it interesting at the top of the seventh,” Sharp laughingly said. “He walked one batter and then hit the next with a pitch, which had me kind of worried. But then he squared up and got three strikeouts to close out the game.”
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