Prep baseball: T-Birds use timely runs to remain in EvCo title hunt

May 5—BOX SCORE

At W.F. West HS

T-BIRDS 5, BEARCATS 3

Tumwater201 011 0 — 5

W.F. West201 000 0 — 3

TUM Pitching — Overbay 6 IP, 6 H, 3 R (2 ER), 4 BB, 6 SO; Crawford 1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 0 SO. Highlights — Davis 2-4, 2B, 2 R; Overbay 2-3 2 RBI, R, SB; Chase 1-2, R, HBP, SB

WFW Pitching — Coleman 5 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 4 SO; Hoffman 2 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO. Highlights — Hoffman 2-3, 2B, R, HBP; Coleman 1-2, 2B, R, BB, HBP; Martin 1-3, RBI

When the Tumwater High School baseball team suffered back-to-back losses to Aberdeen and W.F. West over two weeks ago, there wasn't panic amongst the dugout or coaching staff.

Quite the opposite, actually.

"I don't want to panic because then they panic," T-Birds head coach Lyle Overbay said. "We're right where we need to be."

In order to stay in the chase for the league title and the No. 1 seed for the Class 2A District 4 tournament, winning out was the only path. Tumwater proceeded to post run-rule victories four times since April 17 and a pair of decisive wins along the way.

Monday afternoon provided a statement.

Wyatt Chase went from first to third on an errant pickoff attempt and scored the go-ahead run in the top of the sixth that pushed the Thunderbirds to a 5-3 triumph over W.F. West to make Tuesday all the more important.

If Tumwater (15-4, 11-2 EvCo) is able to sweep the two-game set and take the season series over its rival, it will have the tiebreaker and will need a win on Thursday versus Shelton to nab the league title.

"These guys, I just wanted them to compete," Overbay said. "We had some breaks go our way, but those are our guys taking advantage of those opportunities. When you get to the later days, it is going to make a difference."

The Bearcats, seeing their 17-game win streak come to an end, still control their destiny. They remain one victory away from back-to-back EvCo titles.

"The best thing about this is we get to play tomorrow," W.F. West head coach Jesse Elam said.

Chase was hit by the first pitch he saw from Bearcat reliever Wyatt Hoffman and a pitch later, was on his way to second base on a failed pickoff. Overbay was sending him all the way to third, but changed his mind after seeing how quickly the Bearcats (17-2, 12-1) got the ball back in.

Except Chase didn't stop.

"He heard me going early so he didn't hear me (say stop)," Overbay said. "He was out until he slid around the bag. The throw beat him."

On a bang-bang play at third, Chase was called safe, to the disagreement of Elam and the W.F. West dugout. Liam Gustafson hit a deep flyout to right to score the senior and put Tumwater in front for good.

Peyton Davis and Max Bunn opened the seventh with a double and single, respectively, and Luke Overbay hit a sac fly to center for some insurance. Davis and Overbay each had two hits on the day while the Thunderbirds also stole five bases and were plunked three times.

"We did have some good hits with runners in scoring position," Coach Overbay said.

W.F. West had a chance to be heroes in the bottom of the seventh.

A hit by pitch and two walks loaded the bases for No. 5 hitter Gage Wiens. On a 2-2 count with two outs, the Bearcat third baseman hit a tapper to Landon Longnecker for the forceout at third. Hoffman recorded two hits while he and Connor Coleman each roped a double and were hit by a pitch.

W.F. West failed to get a base runner in the fifth and sixth frames. Still, Elam was pleased with the at-bats all day.

"We still hit the ball hard and we put ourselves in a position to win," he said. "We also made some mistakes that cost us."

It was a DI pitching matchup between Coleman — the Washington State recruit — and Overbay, bound for Michigan. Neither settled in right away.

Coleman faced bases loaded in the first after 17 pitches and nine of them were balls in the first. Tumwater scored a pair on a fielder's choice and a steal of home. The southpaw struck out four in five innings and allowed six hits.

Overbay gave up three hits in the bottom half of the first and W.F. West tied the game on an RBI groundout from Alex Stafford and Coleman crossed home on a passed ball.

Then in the third, Overbay and Miles Martin exchanged RBI singles to keep the game deadlocked heading into the fourth. Overbay struck out six in six innings on the bump and danced around four walks.

"These guys really have confidence in each other," Coach Overbay said.