According to Lake Washington High baseball coach Derek Bingham, Monday’s showdown with Mercer Island all boiled down to one sequence in the bottom of the fourth inning.
The Kangaroos, trailing by three runs, led off with a double and a single, eventually putting runners on second and third with no outs. Then, Mercer Island starter Lucas Chapman stepped up and struck out the fourth, fifth and sixth batters in the Kangs’ lineup.
“That was the game. The game was won right there,” Bingham said. “Sure, we could have been better early to limit their runs, but if we hit a couple ground balls, put the ball in play with a sac fly and it’s 9-8, I think we’re winning.”
Mercer Island went on to win the KingCo League slugfest, 14-6, over the Kangs at Lee Johnson Field, winning the season series 2-1.
The loss snapped a nine-game winning streak for the Kangaroos (16-2 overall, 14-2) and gave Mercer Island the edge for the No. 1 seed in the upcoming league playoffs.
Chapman wasn’t perfect, giving up seven hits and five earned runs in four innings, but he made the right pitches when it counted: five of his six strikeouts came with at least two Lake Washington runners on base.
Lake Washington left 11 men on base, unable to take advantage of eight walks, seven hits and three hit batters.
The Islanders (14-3, 14-2) battered Lake Washington starter Nick Ludwig, who pitched the second game of the three-game series with Mercer Island this season. In that game, Ludwig allowed four hits and pitched a shutout until Paul Falco came on in relief in the seventh inning.
The Islanders pounced on Ludwig early. Josh Stenberg hit a two-run homer, Alex Shanks hit an RBI double and Mercer Island scored on an error in the first inning. Another two-run home run in the top of the second made it 7-0.
Lake Washington responded with a three-run shot over the right field fence from Jake Steele — his first of the season — in the bottom of the second.
The Kangs matched Mercer Island with three runs in the third inning, but a scoreless fourth inning gave the Islanders the momentum to get past Kang reliever Marcus Noteboom for three more runs.
Stenberg finished 2-3 at the plate with two walks, four RBIs and a home run.
No batter had more than one hit for the Kangs.
Next, Lake Washington is scheduled to play Samamish at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, April 27 at Bannerwood Sports Park in Bellevue. The Kangs will wrap up the regular season against Interlake on Friday, April 29 at Lee Johnson Field.
The first round of the KingCo 3A playoffs are scheduled for on Saturday, May 7 at Bannerwood Sports Park.
