By Ed Shepherd
CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Kennedy Catholic's Lancers rode solid pitching, good hitting and defensive gems for a come-from-behind 5-1 win over Mount Rainier under the lights of Cheney Stadium in a non-league baseball matchup Tuesday.

"Really happy with our pitching today," said Lancers head coach Dale Dolejsi, who is in his second year with the team having taken them to the postseason last year and will do it again. They are are going for a second-straight Seamount League title, too.

"Everyone did what we hoped they would do," said Dolejsi, whose team stayed 10-1, tied with Hazen atop the 3A Seamount League, because the Rams are in the South Puget Sound Leaue in 4A. "We wanted to let the batters hit for contact so we could take advantage of our good defense."

The Lancers used four pitchers and all were strong. Joe Wilson started, and allowed a lead-off walk to Blake Nelson, who stole second and, when stealing third, the throw to get him went over the third baseman into left field, so it was 1-0 Rams.

The Rams, with one out, got singles back-to-back from Bryce Pulver and Jeremy Hoefer, as the stadium announcer said things after each hit, like, 'Yeah, baby," sounding like from a silly, kid, voice, or, that raspy voiced dude for Little Caesars, who says, "pizza-pizza."

But, Wilson stopped that noisy momentum by inducing a fly out and pop out to end the Rams' first.
The Rams' Bob Odegard used his ace, Robert Jones, for the first three innings, hoping new pitchers could take over and keep the shutout going. But, that didn't happen.

"We showed how we could be in the first three innings," said Odegard, the Rams head coach, of his team that is 3-9 in the SPSL. "But we couldn't swing the bats. No offense. We played to win, and didn't."

At that time, when the Rams' second pitcher, in the top of the fourth, arrived, is when the Lancers delivered big blows, with Nick Blakely leading off the top of four with a blooper to right field. Then Marco Calderon, the team's captain, hit a choppy roller perfectly by the pitcher before the second baseman on the infield grass.

So runners stood at first and second for the Lancers. One out, and, one batter later, Andrew Ellingson, to the delight of the many Lancers' student body fans standing, all game, behind the dugout, cheering, ripped a 2-RBI single, with a single to the hole, deep, at shortstop, with Blakely scoring. Then another runner scored on a fielding error, so it was 3-1 Lancers after that play.

"I saw the ball, it was a hitter's count," said Ellingson.

A hitters' count is where the hitter is ahead of the pitcher, with more balls than strikes in the at-bat, putting pressure on the pitcher to come in with a strike. And, in this case, Ellingson was up, two balls, no strikes, in the count before connecting bat to ball.

Nathan Jorgensen singled up the middle before both he and Ellingson advanced to second and third on a wild pitch and on an overthrow to get Ellingson running to third on the play.

An inning later, in the top of five, the Lancers nearly scored more as Evan Galando neatly bunted himself aboard and went all the way to third base on a long overthrow into the right field foul area. But, with no outs, the Rams fourth pitcher used, Hoefer, got a strikeout, and, then, Galando, running on a hit ball, hit-and-run play, got out at home plate, on catcher, Nick Dammeier, applying the tag, which got the Rams out of that little jam.

In the bottom of the fifth, the Rams could have got some momentum in their favor on a ball popped up behind Ellingson on the mound with one out. Ellingson came on in relief for Wilson this inning, as would new pitchers pitch each of the next two innings for the Lancers. But, on that pop-up, Galando, off at the crack of the bat, flew from third base, as, Ellingson twisted backward to try to get it. Galando did a dive forward, catching it, tumbling, end over end, holding onto the ball while sitting on the grassm facing forward.

"He is an athlete, flies all over the place, a real revelation," said Dolejsi. "He started out the beginning of the season on JV and moved up to varsity."

So, that defensive feat by Galando, who, incidentally, played ball with several of these guys from both the Rams and Lancers on South Highline National, during Minors and Majors Little League playing days when ages 9 to12, robbed the Rams of a one-out hit. That was a big play, with the score, still, plenty close, only a couple runs down were the Rams. Elingson, then, got a strikeout and a catch from Jared Thurber in center field to end the Rams' bottom of five.

The Rams' sixth at-bats, unfortunately for them, were paved with strong Lancers' defense, with more work from Thurber in the center of the outfield. First hitter for the Rams, in this bottom of the sixth, flew straight out to Thurber. Then, a walk drawn by Pulver was followed by a strikeout by Lancers' hurler Michael Werlich, the third Lancers' relief pitcher used by Dolejsi in this game. Then, true to their coach's words, Werlich let Hoefer, the Rams' best hitter, get the bat on the ball, and, it flew to deep left-center field, a long run for Thurber, however, was successful.

"I wanted to track the ball, couldn't get it into full range, had to slide on my right leg and catch it, backhanded," said Thurber of the pretty play, a sophomore was already hasLancers football team, is attending Washington State University on a baseball scholarship this Fall.

But, with a pinch runner, for Pulver, on first base, having taken off, thinking that ball was dropping in left-center, Thurber wasn't done with the play after the catch, he reached in, fluidly, grabbed the baseball from the pocket and threw all the way from way, way out there, a looping, speedy bullet of a throw, that bounced once and hit first. Double play!

Dolejsi think his center fielder makes that catch?

"Yeah," he said. "I have seen it all year."

So, it wasn't that the Rams weren't close to getting back in it with two or three, big hits,t was that the Lancers' defense was doing quite a spectacular showing for the students, family, friends, in the stands.
So to the seventh. The Lancers added two more runs, with Nick Horn leading off with a double to left-center. Then Grayon O'Neil, walked, and, Galando, knew what to do, hitting the ball deep to centerfield, for an out, but, Horn, tagged up on third, and, made it home, easily, from third, 4-1. And, a wild pitch, later, and, O'Neil scored the last run of the game, 5-1.

The Lancers' fourth pitcher, Jaiden Nelson, retired the side in order in the bottom of the seventh to end this pretty good game that was a lot of fun for everyone to play and watch on both sides, some exciting plays, good baseball, overall.

"It was competitive," said Jared Thurber.

"We have a young team," said Dolejsi. "A lot of sophomores on varsity who played as freshmen."