Too many defensive lapses in one game and a close-but-not-quite finish in another put an end to the Eatonville Cruisers' high school baseball season last week. After opening the 1A Southwest District playoffs with a 3-2 victory over Kalama, Eatonvlle's hopes for a top-three finish and a trip to the state tournament. First, Tenino took advantage of five Cruiser errors to defeat Eatonville 8-2. And then in the losers-out bracket, Monteseno edged the Cruisers 5-4 ballgame to eliminate Eatonville from the playoffs. But coach Mike Moeller said his players "put together a tremendous season and have nothing to hang their head about in battling to the very last out." Against Tenino on May 10, Eatonville fell behind early and couldn't catch up. The next day produced a tighter game, but once again Eatonville trailed early and had to try to mount a comeback. Behind 3-0, Eatonville got two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning when Luke Keefer and A.J. Goetz scored on a bases-loaded two-out error. Monteseno pushed across a single run in both the sixth and seventh innings to take a 5-2 advantage, but Eatonville kept battling. In the bottom of the seventh, Justin Brandt reached base on a one-out error. After the second out, Jacob McCormick single to keep the game going. Keefer also singled to score Brandt, and then Joel Rodriguez sent McCormick hom on an infield single, narrowing Montesano's lead to 5-4. A wild pitch moved Keefer and Rodriguez into scoring position, but the rally ended as Monteseno wiggled out of its jam with a final out. Eatonville opened its district run by winning a pitching duel on the arms of starter Daniel Fuller and reliever Tucker Poll. Moeller said Poll "pitched brilliantly" to shut down Kalama in the seventh inning after his team rallied to take the lead with two runs in the sixth. Poll also played a role in that comeback. Trailing 2-1, Eatonville entered the bottom of the sixth with the game on the line. With one out, Poil doubled to right field, moved to second base on a ground ball by McCormick, and scored on a clutch two-out single by Brandt to tie the score. Brandt stole second base to get into scoring position for Joel Rodriguez, who did the job with a single. Eatonville had led 1-0 after Kyle Pederson scored in the fourth. Brandt finished the game with a team-leading three hits. Fuller pitched five innings, didn't allow an earned run and struck out five opponents.
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