HS Baseball: WF West Stays Perfect, Beats Sehome in Pitchers Duel

4/4/25

WF West 2, Sehome 1

(Chehalis, WA) A very sunny day in Chehalis made for a perfect day for baseball as the Sehome Mariners traveled south to take on the WF West Bearcats. With the Northwest Conference looking as strong as ever, it was a great chance for the Bearcats to knock off another team from that league after beating Anacortes earlier this season. For the Mariners, it was an opportunity to take down the #1 team in the RPI on the road.

It was a defensive, pitchers duel as both teams used a number of pitchers that found success. For Sehome, Jad Gieger and Riley Carlson quieted a tricky Bearcat lineup. However, the trio of Grady Westlund, Hayden Rooney, and Connor Coleman had the upper hand against the Sehome lineup as well. Both teams played exceptionally well on defense with neither side making an error.

Sehome struck first in the 3rd after a walk to Jad Gieger turned into a run. An RBI single for Gunnar Tweit gave Sehome the 1-0 lead, but WF West responded in the home half. Isaiah Nachatilo-Smetzler walked and used his speed to steal second before moving to third on a sacrifice fly by Beckman Dvorak. Hiroto Smaciarz drove in the run with a perfect bunt single to tie the game at 1-1.

In the bottom of the 4th, a leadoff walk to Ross Kelley turned into trouble for Sehome as he stole second and third. Weston Potter got the job done with an RBI groundout to put WF West out in front 2-1. That would be the score after six innings and Connor Coleman entered to close things out. After missing the strike zone with his first three pitches, Coleman threw nine consecutive strikes to strike out the side and end the game. WF West had to scrap but remained perfect with a 2-1 win over a very tough Sehome squad.

Our Thorbeckes MVP of the game went to Isaiah Nachatilo-Smetzler for WF West. The Bearcat center fielder made a couple of great catches out in center including a sliding grab to take extra bases away from Sehome. At the plate, he would walk and double while scoring a run and using his speed to create havoc on base. In a tight game like this was, great defense and baserunning won the game for WF West and Nachatilo-Smetzler shined in both of those categories.

With the win, WF West moves to 8-0 and will head out on Spring Break next week. However, the Bearcats will play on Thursday at noon when they host Bainbridge at Bearcat Stadium. Sehome will head back up north with a 4-5 record but all their losses coming to top tier teams. The Mariners will get back to league play on Monday when they visit Oak Harbor at 4pm.