HS Baseball: Pitching & Defense Helps WF West Take Down Black Hills

4/15/25

WF West 7, Black Hills 1

(Chehalis, WA) After starting off the season 8-0, the WF West Bearcats had to do something for the first time this season on Tuesday and that was bounce back from a loss. A 2-1 defeat at the hands of Bainbridge last week took the Bearcats undefeated record away and the Black Hills Wolves entered Chehalis looking to turn that single loss into a bit of a losing streak. For the Wolves, they were looking to get their first league win after being swept last week by Tumwater.

Lincoln Brannin began the game with a base hit off of Hayden Rooney but the Bearcat starter pitched around it. In the bottom of the 1st, Hiroto Smaciarz also reached on a leadoff single but was thrown out trying to steal third. A two-out walk for Ross Kelley got the Bearcats going as he swiped second and third with Carlos Vallejo at the plate. Vallejo sent a grounder to the 6-hole. Brody Rice made a nice, backhanded play but the throw to first was late, allowing Kelley to score and giving WF West a 1-0 lead.

Both teams played solid defense to keep the score 1-0 through three innings. In the bottom of the 4th, the Bearcats got a little bit of breathing room after a Miles Martin single and Beckman Dvorak walk put a couple of runners on with one out. A passed ball moved the runners up to second and third and Connor Coleman sent a fly ball out to right center. Lincoln Brannin made the catch, but Martin would tag and score while Dvorak moved to third. A wild pitch allowed Dvorak to score and the Bearcats had a 3-0 lead.

Ross Kelley added another run with an RBI triple in the 5th to make it 4-0. Hayden Rooney really settled in after allowing the leadoff single as he retired the next 16 batters he faced. That streak ended in the 6th as he hit Cooper Parkinson to put a man on. Parkinson stole second before advancing to third on a groundout by Lincoln Brannin. One wild pitch later and Parkinson came in to score to get Black Hills on the board, trailing 4-1.

Willie Kytta did a great job of pitching with some traffic on to keep the score close but the Bearcats were able to get to the Black Hills bullpen in the 6th. A Miles Martin walk and Hudson McCallum hit by pitch put the first two guys on base before a pop up by Connor Coleman for the first out. Hiroto Smaciarz laid down a perfect bunt to load the bases but an infield fly kept them loaded with two outs. Ross Kelley sent a chopper to short and Black Hills tried to get Smaciarz at second, but the throw was late as everyone was safe and Martin scored to make it 5-1. Carlos Vallejo then drove in two more with a single to open up the WF West lead to 7-1.

With Rooney’s day done, Emmett Goodman entered looking for the final three outs. After striking out Brody Rice, Goodman got some help from his defense. Weston Potter made a tremendous backhanded stop and a strong throw on the dot to first to get Willie Kytta for the second out. Goodman would finish things off with a strikeout of Jesse Kieth to put a bow on it. WF West got the offense going late and leaned on their pitching and defense to get back in the win column with a 7-1 win over Black Hills.

Our Thorbeckes MVP went to starting pitcher Hayden Rooney for WF West. After allowing a single to begin the game, Rooney retired the next 16 batters he faced and only allowed one run on one hit with no walks and eight strikeouts in six strong innings for the Bearcats.

The win gets WF West back in the win column and moves their record to 9-1 and 4-0 in Evergreen 2A play. Black Hills drops to 1-4 and 1-3 in league play. The two teams will play again at Black Hills High School on Wednesday at 4:30pm before the Wolves host Shelton on Friday and the Bearcats host Tumwater on the same day.