In three-way tie, Juanita and LW lose coin flip, then games
Both Juanita and Lake Washington lost a crucial coin flip, and then even more critical tiebreak games last week to give the Bothell Cougars a bye in the KingCo 4A baseball tournament, which started Monday after the Reporter’s deadline.
Redmond ran away with KingCo with a 17-2 record, but the next six teams were all within one game of each other for the final two spots going into the regular season finale. By the end, Bothell was tied with Juanita and Lake Washington for the second spot and Inglemoor and Eastlake were tied for the sixth and final spot with Woodinville sandwiched in between.
Bothell, Juanita and Lake Washington had a coin flip to see who would have to play two games in a mini-playoff to determine the second seed and a bye in the first round. Bothell won the coin flip, meaning the two Kirkland schools would play each other with the loser getting the fourth seed. The winner would play Bothell for the second seed.
Juanita beat Lake Washington 13-9 in a 10-inning marathon, and then the depleted pitching staff lost to Bothell 14-2.
Inglemoor came from behind for a walk-off 6-5 win to grab the final playoff spot.
Below is the KingCo playoff schedule to determine the 2.5 teams that will make the state tournament. All games, except for the winner-to-state pigtail game against the Greater St. Helens League, are played at Woodinville High school. The games started Monday and Tuesday, but you can figure out where your favorite team will be playing the rest of the week depending on the early games. Wednesday is a scheduled rain out day.
Monday
-Game 1: No. 4 Lake Washington vs. No. 5 Woodinville, 4 p.m. (loser out)
-Game 2: No. 3 Juanita vs. No. 6 Inglemoor, 7 p.m. (loser out)
Tuesday
-Game 3: No. 2 Bothell vs. Winner game 2, 4 p.m. (winner to state)
-Game 4: No. 1 Redmond vs. Winner game 1, 7 p.m. (winner to state)
Thursday
-Game 5: Loser game 3 vs. Loser game 4, 4 p.m.
-Game 6: Winner game 3 vs. Winner game 4, 7 p.m. (KingCo championship)
Saturday
-Game 7: Winner game 5 at GSHL 2, 2 p.m. (winner to state)
Contact Chris Smith at csmith@reporternewspapers.com.
