DARRINGTON The bottom of the fourth inning was long by any standard, but for Shoreline Christian it must have seemed an eternity as they watched their 3-2 lead buried under 13 Darrington runs to lose the first game in the April 5 doubleheader 15-3.
The Crusaders took the lead as two runners found home in the first inning. A single first-inning run by Darrington catcher Justin ODell couldnt have let on the offense the Loggers would unleash only three innings later.
For the next several innings, Darrington pitcher Mark Jones gave the Shoreline Christian batters trouble at the plate, throwing two strikeouts in the second inning. Jones second pair of strikeouts in the third inning must have confused the Crusader hitters, as one batter watched all three strikes go past him without swinging.
In the bottom of the third, Jones took charge of the game offensively as well, coming up with a triple to left field and was batted in by teammate Kenneth Kelley in the next at bat to tie the game, 2-2.
Some poor fielding by Darrington in the Crusaders next inning allowed the visitors a run to recapture the lead. Then, early in the bottom of the fourth, mistakes peppered the Shoreline Christian defense and Darrington stepped up, ready to take advantage of each one.
First up for Darrington, outfielder Josh Lenker kicked off the Loggers offensive blitz as the Crusaders overthrew for the out at first allowing the runner to third base. With first baseman Andy Olsen up to bat, the Loggers then used a suicide squeeze to bring in the run. Olsen got the bunt that turned into a single when the Crusaders failed to recognize the play, attempting to stop Lenker at home in a virtually impossible move.
In addition to Olsen, the next five Darrington batters found home before the Crusaders stopped Kelley at third base.
In an inning that saw the Loggers cross home plate 13 times, Darrington went through its entire batting rotation twice and saw five players get two runs, including ODells second and third of the game.
A demoralized Crusader team was unable to muster much offensively in the fifth inning to answer the Logger onslaught, and it turned out Brennan Vincents second run for Darrington in the bottom of the fourth was the games last before Shoreline Christian went on to a 15-0 drubbing in the second game of the doubleheader.
Our pitcher, Mark Jones, got us out of the first inning where we had control issues, but then threw a lot of strikes, said Darrington head coach Gibran Smith after the first win. We kind of made some mistakes that allowed them to jump out to an early lead.
Smith credited the Darrington batting and decision-making on base for creating momentum for the fourth-inning attack, adding, Once we got a few guys on base, we were able to steamroll and take advantage of their mistakes.

At Darrington H.S.

Darrington 1 0 1 13 x 15
Shoreline Christian 2 0 0 1 0 3