Medical Lake suffers rare loss after pitching a no-hitter
Pitcher Taylor Oliver and catcher Andrew Roberts took advantage of a time out due to injury to chat in the game at Whitworth University.
Shortstop Caleb Kain from Medical Lake applies the tag for an out on an attempted Lakeside stolen base.
SPOKANE - Medical Lake's Taylor Oliver authored the Cardinals' third no hitter of 2023, May 9 against Lakeside in the District 7 playoffs at Whitworth University.
But like other contests that seemed to slip away by inches with sure outs caroming off mitts, so, ironically did this game and with it the Cardinals' season.
The 2-1 loss was part of Medical Lake's three-game losing streak that saw them bounced from the playoffs, one game from reaching state following a 4-1 defeat May 13 at Cashmere of the Caribou Trail League.
"It was just one of those games where I don't even know what to tell you," head coach Austin Sharp said of the Lakeside loss.
Lakeside scratched out their runs in the bottom of the second inning pushing a pair of walks around the bases on a sacrifice bunt, ground out and an error.
Medical Lake cut the lead in the top of the third when Ian Thompson and Kaleb Cain both singled with Oliver driving in Thompson with a two-out single. Cain was thrown out at the plate trying to score from second.
Griffin Marshall went 2-for-3 in the game.
Oliver was not part of the normal rotation but was called into action when the quick succession of games - four in seven days - exhausted other arms.
Medical Lake's ace, Luke Dickey, pitched in the playoff opener, a May 6 win, 5-3 over Freeman but was not avialble. Freshman A.J. Michaud landed in the fire in the Cardinals' 12-0 loss to Colville, also on May 6 with Cain and Oliver doing mop up.
Oliver was somewhat of a mystery to Lakeside who had not seen him before. He appeared to keep the Eagles a bit off balance.
"Six walks and 92 pitches for six innings so he's pretty efficient," Sharp said.
Had they won, the Cardinals would have hosted that Saturday cross-over against Chelan, not traveled to Cashmere.
The deciding fifth inning at Cashmere where the Bulldogs scored three runs and broke a 1-1 tie, came on the strength a single, error and triple that made it 3-1, all with no outs.
Medical Lake tied it in the fourth when Cain was hit by a pitch. With two outs Oliver singled, while both Marshall and Michaud walked to force Cain home.
Coming so very close to qualifying for state was a notable accomplishment for a Medical Lake team that started three freshmen and a pair of sophomores.
And despite struggling with two wins in their final 10 games, his team showed up to practice each day. The Cardinals finished 10-13 overall.
"They just kept working their butt off," Sharp said. "I saw a lot of improvement, especially with the young guys, good experiences and a lot of growth."
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