It appears easy, but it surely’s true.
In sports activities, a staff can’t lose a sport if the opposite staff doesn’t rating.
The Seton Catholic baseball staff put that idea to the final word check this week.
Ryker Ruelas scored on a handed ball with two outs within the high of the eighth inning to get the Cougars 1-0 victory Wednesday over King’s Means Christian.
The second 1-0 win by Seton over the Knights in three days gave the Cougars their first Trico League championship in baseball.
“I think the whole point of (winning back-to-back 1-0 games) is just: Find a way to win,” junior pitcher Kolten Gesser mentioned. “It shows our competitiveness. We’re always going to find a way even if the bats aren’t working, our arms aren’t feeling good, we’re going to find a way to win.”
Seton Catholic beat King’s Means 1-0 on Monday, though the Cougars didn’t file a success — a kind of win neither Ruelas nor Gesser had ever skilled earlier than whereas enjoying baseball.
Wednesday’s rematch was extra of the identical as Gesser and King’s Means pitcher Noah Myers matched scoreless frames for the primary seven innings.
Seton Catholic did handle 5 hits on Wednesday, the final of which coming from Ruelas with one out within the high of the eighth.
Ruelas labored his manner over to 3rd base on a balk and a fly ball to proper.
Then when 2-2 pitch to Dalton Woods slipped previous the catcher, Ruelas altertly raced house to attain the sport’s solely run.
“I was just trying to score a run,” Ruelas mentioned. “It was the top of the eighth … so I was just trying to get (us) on the board.”
However King’s Means didn’t go quietly within the backside of the eighth.
Derek Tarnoski led off the inning with a stroll and Jace Barnes adopted with a single.
After an out, each runners moved up 90 ft on stolen bases earlier than Gesser bought the second out with a strikeout. That might be the junior’s final pitch as he reached the pitch depend restrict.
After an intentional stroll to load the bases, freshman Asher LaPointe got here in and bought the ultimate out on a groundout to 3rd baseman Lucas Peterson, setting of Seton’s celebration.
“I was definitely frustrated that my pitch count was up,” Gesser mentioned. “But Asher coming in and closing it out, he’s a freshman. He’s pitched a lot for us this year. He’s shown kind of what our team motto is, which is being competitive and going out to compete. Going out there, bases loaded, high-pressure situation, and he just gave it up to God and let Him take care of it. He just went and competed. It was fun to watch him, for sure.”
There was lots at stake on Wednesday. Had King’s Means overwhelmed the Cougars, it could have created a three-way tie for first within the Trico. With tiebreakers, it could have dropped Seton all the best way to the No. 3 seed to the district playoffs.
As an alternative, Seton Catholic heads off to district because the No. 1 seed with 13-1 league file. La Heart is second at 12-2, and King’s Means third at 11-3.
All-Area Sports activities Awards Ceremony
The Columbian will likely be internet hosting its second annual All-Area Sports activities Awards Ceremony on Tuesday, June 3, 2025 at The Hilton Vancouver Washington.
The occasion will likely be 6-8 p.m. Admission is $15 and consists of food and drinks. Tickets can be found now by clicking on hyperlink.
“A lot of credit goes to King’s Way,” Seton coach Ted Wieczorek mentioned. “Those guys played their butts off. Myers pitched a great game. Tarnoski pitched a great game on Monday. Hats off to those guys. We knew it would come down to this. We started the league season against La Center, then we ended it with King’s Way. Two great ball games, lot of stuff there worked out in our favor, and now we’re league champs.”
The way in which the district bracket is ready up, it could not shock anybody to see the Cougars and Knights meet once more subsequent week.
However that risk can wait. Wednesday was about celebrating.
“This is amazing,” Ruelas mentioned. “It’s my senior year, and we have a full group of eight seniors, something like that. So it was just amazing to get the first Trico League (title).”
