Its been an up and down year for Coach Jeff Smiths Single A Legion bunch. Several close losses combined with all the powerful teams in the Northwest have made wins tough to come by.
But everything went well on July 6 for Stilly as the boys made a big statement against Sedro-Woolley. The Rapids won game one of their doubleheader 7-1 before breaking out even more offense in the 11-8 night game victory.
Ive been dreaming about this for weeks, said Smith. Ive told the kids all year that we need to be ready to take a good infield, get a good warm up, show how much we love the game and focus on doing things right. Its all small pieces but they add up.
Tucker DeGraffenried certainly did things the right way in game one. He took the mound for the Rapids and allowed a paltry one run in the first inning before taking control of the game. DeGraffenried struck out eight batters on his way to the victory.
DeGraffenried got plenty of help from his offense along the way. In the first inning Stilly got RBI singles from Jake Stalkfleet, Marcus McKenzie, and Casey Corcoran to jump out to an early 3-1 lead. Carson Zednick provided more offense in the second inning as his two RBI double opened up the lead 5-1. If not for a running catch to end the inning by the Sedro-Woolley second baseman, Kyle Hammon would have added two more RBI for Stilly. Fortunately, Zednick came through with another RBI single in the third inning, scoring Seth Reiger from second base to put Stilly up 6-1.
At that point, DeGraffenried took over, chewing up innings with the greatest of ease. He got some help from his defense in the fourth inning as Carson Zednick started a 6-4-3 double play for the first two outs of the inning. DeGraffenried whipped through the Sedro-Wooley lineup in the fifth and sixth inning, facing only the minimum of six batters.
Kyle Smith completed the scoring for Stilly in the fifth inning, scoring on a groundout off the bat of Carson Zednick. Zednick completed his impressive performance with four RBI.
In the seventh, DeGraffenried got a pop up to shortstop to finish the game.
The curve was not working today, said DeGraffenried. I tried to throw my slider in on their hands. The result was a lot of pop-ups. By the end I was tired, so I tried to let my infield do the work.
In game two on the night, Stillys offensive firepower overwhelmed the Sedro-Wooley pitching staff. Jake Stalkfleet pitched a complete game for the Rapids and his offense really supported him. Tyler Wendland finished with three hits, Seith Reiger and Tim Hancock with two each. The Rapids were down 7-1 after two innings but put together an eight run fourth inning to climb right back in front. Coach Smiths team walked away with two well deserved victories and a good overall feeling.
Were all getting along, said Carson Zednick afterward. We like each other on the team and right now its working.