A young Bonney Lake High baseball squad looks as if it will be returning to the playoffs this month, having won two of its last three outings of the regular season to wind up fourth – or possibly even third – in the South Puget Sound League 3A with an 8-7 league mark.

Three of the Panthers’ seven setbacks came at the hands of Decatur High, which sticks in the craw of BLHS coach Mike Olson.

“I still can’t believe we let Decatur win all three of those close games against us,” he said. “If we would have won even one of those encounters we would have finished in second for sure with a 9-6 record, because we swept Auburn Mountainview, which is probably a better squad overall.”

Bonney Lake’s final two league games were against Peninsula. Thursday, Bonney Lake couldn’t quite pull the victory out of the fire, as it fell behind 6-3 going into the top of the seventh inning, stubbornly battled back to tie things up, then allowed PHS to record the game-winner in the bottom of the seventh frame to absorb a disappointing 7-6 road loss.

Saturday, Bonney Lake hosted Peninsula on the Sumner High field, as the Panther diamond was too soggy. The Panthers won a pitchers’ duel 2-1.

With the score knotted going into the bottom of the third stanza, Bonney Lake exercised great patience in manufacturing what turned out to be the winning run.

Freshman Nolan Weber walked and advanced to second on a passed ball. After stealing third, he scored on Nate Potterf’s sacrifice fly.

Whether seeded third or fourth, Bonney Lake enters the subdistrict tournament Saturday at Auburn Mountainview High.