Tenth-ranked Eastlake patiently waits out No. 6 Issaquah, rallies for Class 4A District 1/2 baseball title
BELLEVUE – Unable to draw from its normally reliable power sources – both on the pitcher’s mound and at the plate – the 10th-ranked Eastlake High School baseball team turned to patience.
With hard-throwing junior pitcher Bryce Johnson not himself as the Wolves’ ace of the staff, they needed to plug in elsewhere to bring home an improbable 6-5 triumph over sixth-ranked Issaquah in the 4A WesCo-KingCo championship game on Saturday night at Bannerwood Park.
With its path to victory seemingly outsourced, Eastlake (17-6) beat its KingCo 4A rival for the second time in three meetings this season with the biggest prize on the line. But it took a three-run rally in the top of the sixth inning – thanks to six walks and a balk from four Eagles’ pitchers – to erase a 5-3 deficit.
"Bryce didn’t have his best stuff tonight, and we battled through that," said Eastlake coach Frank Smith, whose team won despite Johnson lasting just four innings and giving up four runs, five walks and one hit-by-pitch. "We were patient at the plate and (Issaquah) struggled a little bit toward the end throwing strikes as the pressure mounted.
"We put good swings on the ball and put the pressure on them to make plays."
Both teams advance to the regional round of the WIAA playoffs - with the Wolves claiming the school’s seventh state appearance with the late rally.
Eastlake has never placed in the state tournament since the school opened in 1993 and hopes to add to its three wins at state, the last of which in 2019 against Puyallup (2-1).
"Like I just told the boys, 'We might have a Sammamish address, but this is a blue-collar group,'" Smith said. "When you peel back the layers, we’ve got the KingCo 4A player of the year on defense in football (catcher Griffin Miller), the KingCo 4A player of the year in basketball (pitcher/infielder Will Woodward). We’ve got multi-sport guys. We bring our lunch pails to work.
"This is a tough group once you start pulling back those layers."
Johnson (6-1) didn’t get the decision after leaving after the fourth inning, trailing 4-3. The beginning of the end for Johnson came in the bottom of the third inning as he faced the Eagles’ entire lineup and gave up two hits, three walks, a hit-by-pitch and three runs in the inning.
Johnson threw 44 of his 95 pitches in the third, including a 12-pitch at-bat to Issaquah’s top hitter, Chandler Tuupo, that took the steam out of him.
"He just kept battling and that’s a great hitter over there," said Johnson, who only had 12 walks this season entering Saturday’s game. "Those guys were battling out there and not going down easy. My legs weren’t into it, so it was hard to throw everything confidently.
"Not having my slider working today really hurt, because that’s one of my go-to pitches. It was just a tough-fought game."
With one out on the top of the sixth inning, Eagles’ pitcher Adam Kim gave up four-pitch walks to Luke Schlecht and Levi Joyce before giving way to Bryan Sfanos, who promptly walked Noah Weintraub to load the bases.
Sfanos walked Grady Woodward to force home Schlecht and to trim Issaquah’s lead to 5-4. Then, the Eagles brought in Dominic Giustino and his immediate balk brought in Joyce to tie the game, 5-5.
Then, after Issaquah coach Rob Reese called for the umpire to issue an intentional walk to Johnson, then Jack Edmunds drew a walk to score Weintraub for a 6-5 Wolves’ lead.
Issaquah reliver Henry Hess then came in and got Griffin Miller to fly out to center and doubled up Johnson at second to end the inning.
Issaquah (17-6) looked in control up 4-3 after Michael Moore’s sacrifice fly RBI to deep right field allowed Ragen Kiefer to tag up and scored from third in the bottom of the fourth inning. The lead grew to 5-3 when Wolves’ relief pitcher Joyce was called for a balk to send Issaquah pinch runner Graden Chan home from third in the bottom of the fifth.
Edmunds led Eastlake with a pair of hits, including a two-run double in the top of the third and he finished 2 for 3 with a walk and three RBI. Weintraub collected the save for the Wolves, pitching two scoreless innings in the sixth and seventh.
Sfanos lead Issaquah by going 3 for 4 at the plate and driving in two runs on a single in the bottom of the third. He also doubled in the fifth.
The two teams split during the regular season with Issaquah taking a 4-2 decision on March 28 and Eastlake bouncing back for a 3-1 win on April 18.
"We jumped on them early and they wouldn’t go away," said Smith of his Wolves opening a 3-0 lead after the top of the third inning before Issaquah tied it 3-3 with three runs in the bottom of the third. "All of Rob’s (Issaquah coach Rob Reese) teams are always tough. You know you’re in a dogfight with his teams."
