Aberdeen and Eatonville high schools began last tied atop the Evergreen League baseball standings with 9-1 records going into two head-to-head contests to decide which team claimed the title. Eatonville coach Mike Moeller said the games "played out like league championship games should GÇô terrific pitching, timely hitting and solid defense." In the end, Aberdeen edged the Cruisers by a lone run in both to claim the 2016 Evergreen crown. While the 2A Aberdeen Bulldogs took the championship, Eatonville still sat atop the 1A clubs with two games to go and with a chance to earn the top seed to the 1A district playoffs. The Cruisers (9-3) could clinch that position by beating Montesano (8-4) this week. In the first duel with Aberdeen April 26, Eatonville rallied from a 1-0 deficit in the top of the fifth inning when Jay Brymer reached base on an error, was sacrificed to second on a bunt by Kyle Pedersen, moved to third on a groundball by Brooks Moeller, and was driven home by a single by Justin Brandt. The Bobcats retook the lead in the bottom half of the inning when they took advantage of a Cruiser error to move ahead 2-1. The Cruisers took the lead for the first time in the seventh inning at 3-2 as Brymer got on base again on an error, Pedersen walked, and after both runners moved up on a wild pitch, Brandt's sacrifice squeeze bunt scored Brymer. Tucker Poil, pinch running for Pedersen, scored on Jacob McCormick's sacrifice fly. In the bottom of the seventh, Aberdeen produced the winning runs with a bloop single to right field, a groundball that found its way into right, and GÇô with the Eatonville infielders playing up to cut off the tying run at home GÇô a chopper that found its way through the infield to score the runners. In the rematch April 28, Aberdeen jumped ahead 3-0 lead with a two-run home run in the second inning and an unearned run in the third. Eatonville answered by scoring a run in the fourth when Brandt on a hit by McCormick. Eatonville added another run in the fifth on a leadoff single by Joel Rodriguez, a double by A.J. Goetz and Daniel Fuller's RBI sacrifice fly. Down 3-2, the Cruisers would had base runners in each of the final two innings but couldn't score.
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