Spartans win first district title | Sumner Baseball

The Sumner Spartans won the district title Saturday for the first time in school history. The Spartans faced off against league rival White River Hornets.

The Sumner Spartans won the district title Saturday for the first time in school history.

The Spartans faced off against league rival White River Hornets.

Despite a close game, Sumner won 2-1.

The district championship game was a bit reminiscent of the league championship game the Spartans and the Hornets played on April 30.

The Spartans won that game 6-2 to end the regular season as the South Puget Sound League 2A champions.

“The league and district championships were part of our goals at the beginning of the season,” coach Casey Adcox said. “It’s very cool to achieve both of those.”

The Hornets have lost four games this season and three of them have been to Sumner.

The Spartans are 4-0 in the post season and enter state as the number one seed from the West Central District.

Sumner plays Lynden next at 1 p.m. Saturday, May 24 at Yelm High School.

The winner from that game will advance to the next round.

Playing Lynden in game one has fueled the team’s energy and drive even more, Adcox said.

To make it to the district championship game, the Spartans faced league opponent Fife in the semifinals.

Sumner has played Fife twice this year, losing its only game to the Trojans back in early April.

Logan Christensen pitched for the Spartans in the semifinals.

Christensen struck out nine and walked one in five innings.

Sumner won 10-0 to advance to the finals.

Luc Powers-Hubbard went 3-3 that game. And Adcox said Bryan Adkins’ two out, two run double in the fourth was a “clutch hit that really opened the floodgates.”

In the championship game, Sumner scored first with one run in the first inning.

The Spartans held the lead until giving up one run to the Hornets in the top of the sixth inning.

However, the tie didn’t last long. Sumner quickly answered with the winning run in the bottom of the sixth inning.

A two out infield single led to the winning run. The runner stole second and scored on a fielding error.

Adcox said he most proud of how his team has responded to the added pressure and expectations of holding the number one spot.

“This team is unique and kind of just embraces it,” he said.