As air heats up, so is Auburn's baseball team, which clinches Class 3A West Central/Southwest bi-district title

KENT, Wash. - The Auburn High School baseball team on Saturday placed another firm footstep toward taking its place amongst the lofty accomplishments of classmates over the course of this school year.

The Trojans added the Class 3A District 3/4 title to their resume with a 3-1 victory over Peninsula in the championship game at Auburn High School, earning the top seed into the WIAA regional round that takes place next weekend.

A few months ago, the Auburn boys basketball team won the district title - and went on to clinch the state championship as well. The baseball team certainly has a desire to follow suit.

"We’re just loving every step we’re taking," junior Amari Goodfellow said. "Practice, we’re having fun. Game, we’re having fun. We just love it. We love it."

In the district semifinals, Auburn hit three home runs and Colton Anardi threw a complete game to upend favored Bainbridge, 6-2 - setting up a matchup of league champions from the South Sound.

And again, it was Anardi that got things rolling for the the 3A NPSL champions. This time, though, it was at the plate.

Anardi hammered the second pitch he saw leading off the top of the second inning into the netting above the left-field wall for a solo home run and a quick 1-0 lead.

"Felt good," Anardi said. "You always want to score first, get the momentum going. We got it going and it stayed there the rest of the game."

His homer was the fourth of the day for the Trojans (20-5), equaling in two games the total they had hit at home all season long before Saturday.

"The ball just hadn’t been carrying, the air’s been so cold," Auburn coach Gordie Elliott said. "Then all of a sudden, we hit four today. The air’s starting to warm up, so that’s good."

Goodfellow hit one of the three semifinal homers, then took to the mound for the championship game. Just two weeks ago, Goodfellow had established his longest outing of the season at six-plus innings. Against the 3A SSC champions on Saturday night, he threw the Trojans' second complete game of the day to earn the victory.

"I was just pumped," Goodfellow said. "You know, it’s the first time we’ve been in the playoffs in a while and I was ready to go. I was ready to compete."

After Anardi’s home run staked the Trojans to a lead, Auburn added a pair of runs in the third to take a 3-0 lead – getting just one hit in the inning (a leadoff double from catcher Brandon Zadow) but taking advantage of two walks and two wild pitches from Peninsula starter Hunter Bennett.

Trailing by those three runs, Payton Knowles hit a leadoff single and stole second base to open the fourth inning for the Seahawks (16-7). He eventually scored on a two-out infield error, closing the gap to 3-1.

Peninsula had one more opportunity against Goodfellow, getting the first two runners aboard in the fifth. But subsequently, Justin Grande was called for interference at second base on a possible double-play throw from Ethan Smetheram, which caused the umpire to award the second out and effectively end the potential rally.

"There wasn’t anything that I can say that we didn’t do well," Peninsula coach Michael Johnson said. "It’s just baseball. Sometimes the ball falls your way, sometimes it doesn’t. There’s really nothing we could have done different."