It’s been a roller coaster ride for the White River High baseball team with a win over South Puget Sound League 3A preseason favorite Bonney Lake April 7, a stunning loss to Sumner April 8, a rebounding win over Yelm Thursday and a loss Friday to Enumclaw.
It doesn’t get easier for the Hornets as they face a five-game stretch that started Monday with Timberline and Tuesday with Peninsula. The busy week continues with back-to-back games against Clover Park – on the road today, Wednesday, and at home Thursday – followed by a home game Friday Auburn Mountainview. Game time is 4 p.m. for each contest.
Against Bonney Lake, the Hornets played consistent team ball to earn a big 8-4 win over the Panthers.
Jeremy Hoffman went two strong innings and started the third before walking the leadoff batter and eventually loading the bases with no outs. Dalton Reynolds, who earned the win, came in and gave up a sacrifice fly RBI before closing out the inning with two fly balls.
He allowed only three runs on three hits the rest of the game.
Sumner humbled the Hornets with an 11-1 loss April 8.
The Hornets scored their lone run in the third inning of the five-inning contest after the Spartans racked up a 10-0 lead, sparked by back-to-back grand slams in the first two innings. Sumner also took advantage of four White River errors.
“They certainly were the better team today,” Hornet coach Mike Williams said.
Thursday against Yelm, the Hornets rallied with hot bats to break open the game with six runs in the third innin. The team added another in the fifth and two more in the sixth for a 9-2 win over the Tornadoes.
Michael Anastasi went 2-for-3 with a run and two RBI. Hoffman went 1-for-2 with three RBI.
Connor Williams picked up the win in relief.
Friday, Enumclaw came out strong with five runs, back-to-back triples and back to back doubles, in the first inning and then added three more with a three-run home run in the second. White River rallied with doubles by Anastasi, Kameron Kujawa and Hoffman – in the third with five runs of their own to make it a ball game.
The two teams kept pace, but Enumclaw was one step ahead for the 14-8 final.
The Hornets from Buckley finished the day with 14 hits to Enumclaw’s 17. White River edged Enumclaw in errors, 3-2.
“We hit the ball extremely well off of one of the top pitchers in the league,” the coach said. “We just could not contain the bats of Enumclaw. They were very explosive. Reynolds did a very good job of changing speeds and locating his pitches. He kept us in the game and gave us an outside chance of a comeback.”
Reach Brenda Sexton at bsexton@courierherald.com or 360-802-8206.
