Foster Outstanding As Golden Eagles Roll, 18-12 , 17-2
by John Hunt
posted May 9, 2008
) Photo by Greg Davick A Grace runner on third base. |
They got a lot of both Friday night at Engel Stadium in the District 5-A finals with the Silverdale Seahawks.
Grace came out the losers’ bracket to prevail by an 18-12 margin in the first game to force a second game.
The Golden Eagles won that one as well by a 17-2 final in five innings.
If you wanted to see a good pitcher’s duel, the first game would have been a good one to miss. But if you love offense with lots of hits and lots of runs being scored, Engel was the place to be for the first three hours.
Grace was the visiting team in both games.
The Seahawks retired them in order in the top of the first in game one before putting five runs on the board for an early lead.
Grace woke up as the Golden Eagle bats came to life and the game quickly turned into a slugfest.
Silverdale’s 5-0 lead was erased as Grace scored six in the second. Silverdale responded with three in the second for an 8-6 lead.
Grace scored five in the third and three more in the fourth and the Golden Eagles never trailed again.
“Right now, we’re short on pitching, so we have to win our games with a lot of offense,” Pierce said when the first game finally ended.
“We have pretty good speed on our team and we like to steal bases. When we get runners on base, we can make things happen.
"We have a goal of 10 stolen bases every game and we just got nine, so we were close,” he added.
Both teams ended the first game with 15 hits and four errors.
Wallace Foster and Alec Rose both had three hits to lead the Golden Eagle offense. Foster also scored three times and drove in three, two coming on an opposite field homer in the third.
Rose also drove in two runs with a double in the sixth.
Jarrad Peace had two hits with the big one being a grand slam in the second, which followed an intentional walk to Foster to load the bases.
Heath Wright and Logan Nico also had two hits for Grace as eight players had at least one hit and all nine scored at least one run.
Wil Amos, Tyler Barnett, Chris Casey and Brennan Morrow all had three hits for Silverdale.
Amos also scored three times while Barnett had three singles and three runs scored.
Casey had two singles and a two-run double and finished with four runs batted in while Morrow added three singles and two RBI while scoring once.
Matt Jensen was the winning pitcher for Grace in game one as he lasted three innings and benefitted from the first 14 runs.
Foster was the winning pitcher in the second game as he went the distance, allowing just four hits and one walk while striking out eight.
He was pitching on just three days rest, but he’s a three-sport star who wants to be in the middle of the action in big games, so fatigue never appeared to be a factor on Friday.
“That was fun,” Foster said with a smile after collecting two more hits and scoring three more runs to lead the championship march.
“All of my teammates hit well as everybody came through. My arm was kind of tired, but I wanted the ball and coach gave it to me,” the soft-spoken senior explained.
Pierce had plenty of praise for the scrappy red head.
“That guy has put on his back and carried us all year long. What he did tonight was huge on just three days rest. All I wanted was one or two innings, but he kept battling and he pitched a fine game.
"Our ace Alec Rose hasn’t pitched since Tuesday, so he’ll be rested for our next game,” Pierce added after watching his team improve to 14-20 with the two wins.
Grace finished the second game with just nine hits, including two from Peace and Rose in addition to Foster.
Matt Ruebusch, Heath Wright and pinch-hitter Nathan Clark had the others.
Edgar Montgomery had a triple to lead Silverdale and he scored their first run in the second on a wild pitch. Amos, Jake Anderson and Casey had the other hits, all singles.
The Seahawks are now 14-13 overall, but coach Mike Mercer was anything but downtrodden following the two lopsided losses.
“Nobody expected us to be here tonight. We had never won a district tournament game until this year and we beat both David Brainerd and Grace, the top two teams in our district.
"I think we earned some respect and I feel like our future is bright,” he said, noting that he had five freshmen, three juniors and one sophomore starting.
“We certainly don’t like getting beat like we did tonight, but I hope this will just make us more humble and hungry for next year,” Mercer added on a positive note.
Grace will be at home to face Arts & Sciences on Monday at 7 while Silverdale will be on the road at Lookout Valley.
It will be a busy day at Grace on Monday as the Lady Golden Eagle softball team will be playing at 5 with the baseball game to follow.
Game One
Grace 065 313 0 – 18 15 4
Silverdale 530 020 2 – 12 15 4
Payton, Davis (1), Jensen (2), Ruebusch (5) and Nico; Carr, Hitchcock (3), Morrow (3), Amos (6) and Anderson.
Game Two
Grace 310 67 – 17 9 3
Silverdale 010 10 – 2 4 7
Foster and Nico; Robertson, Montgomery (4), Behler (4), Holloway (5) and Carr.
(Email John Hunt at tnmoose2002@aol.com)
) Photo by Greg Davick Silverdale infield. |
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