By Quint Turner

The Perrinville rivalry had another chapter written this Friday as the Meadowdale Mavs and the Edmonds-Woodway Warriors squared off for the first game of the 2013 high school baseball season. The Mavs scored five runs in the sixth and seventh (including a three-run home run by Garret Walsh) to get a 7-5 lead before the Warriors stormed back in the bottom of the seventh and rallied for three runs.

With the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the seventh, Chantz Justice hit a weak ground ball that second baseman Ryan White picked up and attempted to get Justice out; the throw went past first baseman Erik Siska and the error scored two runs. Alex Hull was walked to load the bases once again, and Joey Rees hit a chopper that bounced over shortstop Kenley Ackerman’s glove and into center field. Marc Campagnaro scored from third, and the Warriors won in a thriller.

Tate Budnick started on the mound for the Warriors, and he pitched four innings, struck out fiv and gave up 1 earned run in a no-decision effort. He retired the Mavs 1-2-3 in the first. On the Mavs side, Reid Naughtin got the start and pitched three innings. He walked two batters, struck out one, and gave up two runs in a no-decision effort. Rees reached base on an error with one out, and then got to third base thanks to a single by Budnik and a 6-3 fielders’ choice by Jorgen Arnesen. However, Bryce Mezich flew out to Dakota Barlament to end the inning, and Naughtin escaped unharmed.

The Mavs drew first blood in the second. White led off with a single to left field, and then got to second when Budnick tried to pick him off and the ball got away. Parker Coffey and Colin Costello both struck out after, and Chris Tanner came up with White on second and two outs. He hit a slow groundball to the shortstop Hull and beat the throw to first. White ran on contact and never stopped, and he scored to make it 1-0 Mavericks.

Siska grounded out to end the inning. In the bottom of the second, Mac McLachlan led off with a walk. When Naughtin’s attempt to pick him off got away from first baseman Siska, he went to second. Troy Rheinford advanced him with a groundout to second base, and then Jason Smarr struck out. So with two outs and McLachlan at third, Justice stepped up to the plate. He hit a slow groundball to third base that Costello cleanly fielded, but his throw went wide of Siska. McLachlan scored, and the game was tied at 1. Justice was caught stealing by the cannon of football QB and catcher Brian Marty when Hull stepped up to bat, and that ended the inning.

Tyler McGuire hit a one-out double into the left-center gap in the top of the third. Budnick quickly recovered and struck out Ackerman, and on the strikeout pitch, McGuire stole third. Marty came to the dish with a runner on third and grounded out to Justice to end the inning. The Warriors took the lead in the bottom half of the third. Hull led off with a single to center field, and then stole second base during Rees’s at-bat. Rees laid down a great sacrifice bunt to advance Hull to third, and big slugger Budnick was up. He hit a weak grounder to Ackerman at shortstop, and his only play was to get Rees out at first. Hull easily scored on the play, and it was 2-1 EWHS. Arnesen, the next hitter, walked, but Mezich grounded out to end the inning.

White led off the top of the fourth with an infield single, and then stole second on the third strike of Coffey’s at-bat. Costello came up and hit a groundball to third baseman Rees. White ran on the contact and was tagged out by Rees, making the second out of the inning. Tanner hit a single, and then White and Tanner stole simultaneously on a pass ball. Suddenly, the Mavericks had two runners in scoring position with two outs. Siska made good contact with Budnick’s pitch, but it was a line drive that went straight back in to Budnick’s glove, ending the inning. Moses Valadez came in to pitch the fourth and fifth for the Mavs. The bottom of the fourth went down quietly, with only Smarr getting on base by a bunt single. The game remained 2-1 Warriors going into the top of the fifth.

Arnesen came in to pitch in the top of the fifth and ended up pitching 1.1 innings, striking out one, and gave up four runs. The first of those four were scored in the top of the fifth. Barlemant was hit by Arnesen’s fifth pitch, and he stole second base right away. He got to third after an infield single by McGuire and then Ackerman drove him home with a groundout to Arnesen. McGuire got to second, but he was picked off by Arnesen for the second out, and White struck out to end the inning. Still, the Mavs tied the game at two in the top of the fifth. Hull and Rees led off the bottom of the fifth with back-to-back singles and Budnick came on with no outs and two runners on. Budnick hit a line drive into left field that was dropped by defensive replacement Phillip Thomas. Thomas never gave up on the play and threw out Hull, who was waiting by second base, expecting the ball to be caught. Valadez then walked Arnesen, and the bases were loaded with one out for Mezich. He knocked in a run with a single to left field, driving in a run, and McLachlan did the exact same thing the next at-bat, and the Warriors had a 4-2 lead. But they weren’t done yet.

Rheinford hit a slicing fly ball that was going foul in right field, but Barlament somehow made a diving catch on the ball for the second out of the inning. Arnesen scored on the amazing catch, and it became 5-2 EWHS. Valadez got out of the inning by striking out Smarr, but the damage was done, and the Warriors held a 5-2 lead going into the top of the sixth.

Coffey began the sixth with an infield hit, and Costello bunted his way onto the basepath. Justin Ridley was put in as a pinch-hitter for Tanner, and he hit an infield fly for the first out of the inning. Head Coach Bill Hummel called for a pinch hitter, and brought in Garret Walsh to hit in place of Siska. Walsh made the most of his opportunity. He crushed Arnesen’s 1-0 offering over the left-center field fence and tied the game at 5 with one swing of a bat. Arnesen was taken out and replaced with Austin Holmes, who pitched the rest of the game. Holmes easily retired Barlament and McGuire in short order, and the game went to the bottom of the sixth with the score 5-5. Chace Diemond replaced Valadez as the Maverick pitcher and gave up a leadoff single to Justice. The next batter, Hull, flew out to McGuire. Rees got on board by a walk and Budnick had two runners on and one out. Budnick smashed a line drive that went straight to the left fielder Ridley, and then cleanup hitter Arnesen hit a similar line drive to the right fielder Barlament. That ended the inning, and the game went to the seventh with the score tied 5-5.

Ackerman led off the top of the seventh, and hit a dinky grounder to the third baseman. Rees’s throw got by the first baseman and went out of play, allowing Ackerman to advance to second base on the error. Marty hit a single to left field, and there were runners on the corner and one out for White. He hit into a 6-4 fielder’s choice, which let Ackerman score the go-ahead run while also getting White on first. Coffey came up with just one out and White on first and struck out. During his at-bat, White managed to steal second, which set the table for Costello. Costello slapped a groundball up the middle of the diamond that managed to go through shortstop Hull’s legs and into center field. White scored from second, and the Mavs had a 7-5 lead. Ridley came up and popped out to end the inning, and the Mavs had a 7-5 lead going into the final frame; the bottom of the seventh.

Diemond started as pitcher in the seventh, but immediately gave up a single to Mazich and walked McLachlan right after. Hummel had seen enough, and pulled him. Matt Hill came in to try and close out the game. Rheinford attempted a sacrifice bunt, but Hill threw out the lead runner Mazich to get the first out of the inning. Marc Campagnaro pinch-hit for Smarr and drew a walk. Justice had the bases loaded with only one out, and on a foul count, he hit a weak groundball to second baseman White. White scooped it up barehanded and threw it away, letting both McLachlan and Rheinford score, tying the game up at 7. The error left Campagnaro on third and Justice on second, so Hull was intentionally walked to load the bases in hopes of forcing a double play. Rees came up, and hit the 0-1 offering from Hill. The ball took a bad bounce over shortstop Ackerman’s glove and went into center field. Campagnaro easily scored, and the Warriors mobbed the hero Rees at first base in celebration. The Warriors won by a walk-off basehit, 8-7.

Hill got the loss while pitching for the Mavericks, giving up just one run in .1 innings of work while walking two. Even though he gave up two runs, Holmes earned the win for the Warriors. He pitched a decent 1.2 innings and struck out one batter as pitcher. The Mavericks “fall” to 0-1 on the year, and play next Wednesday at home versus Marysville-Pilchuck at 4 p.m. The Warriors improve to 2-0 and win the honor of beating their biggest rivals, and play next Tuesday at Mountlake Terrace at 4 p.m.

Quint Turner is a student at Meadowdale High School.