By Quint Turner

The Meadowdale Maverick baseball team will play at least one more game despite losing 3-1 to the Ferndale Golden Eagles in the Wesco District Championship game Saturday afternoon in Shoreline. Brady Bauthues pitched a complete game win for the Eagles and struck out two batters, giving up a run. For Meadowdale, Elliott Reece also pitched all seven innings in a losing effort, but one of the runs given up was unearned.

The Eagles’ game-winning run was scored in the third inning with a two-out rally going. Pete Pennylegion got an infield single and then stole second before Austyn Sprague hit a single to right field and drove in his second run of the game. The Mavs got their only run off a sacrifice fly by Chris Tanner in the top of the fourth, but could not get another player home in the last three innings.

Tyler McGuire led off the first with a single and then Kenley Ackerman bunted him to second. McGuire advanced to third after Brian Marty grounded out, and Garrett Walsh walked to put runners on first and third with two outs. However, Ryan White grounded out to end the inning.

The Golden Eagles took the lead in the bottom of the first. Marshall Weston hit a line-drive double down the right field line, and got to third when Pennylegion had a base hit as well. Sprague came up and hit a ground ball to second baseman White, who fielded it cleanly. White tried to get Pennylegion out at second, but his throw went behind the shortstop, Ackerman, who was trying to cover the base and the ball went into left field.

Weston easily scored and Pennylegion got to third, but Sprague was gunned down when he tried to advance to second base. Still, the Eagles took a 1-0 lead. Then Bauthues stepped up with a runner on third and hit a shallow fly ball to right field. Collin Costello made the catch, and Pennylegion started for home. Costello’s throw was cut off by Reece, who then quickly threw to home and caught Pennylegion in a play at the plate for the third out. The Eagles had a 1-0 lead going into the second inning.

Parker Coffey started the second with a double in the right-centerfield gap and was moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Costello. Phillip Thomas came up and hit a fast ground ball straight to Bauthues. The Eagles pitcher made a great heads-up play and threw to third, catching Coffey off the bag. Coffey was easily tagged by Sprague, and there were two outs. Thomas advanced to second during the run-down. Tanner came up and got a bunt single, which also got Thomas to third. McGuire was next but hit a pop-up to the shortstop to end the inning, and the score was still 1-0 Ferndale.

The Eagles didn’t get much in the bottom of the second. Colin Wagner knocked a one-out single, but Brady Shearer grounded out and Zachery Cutsworth flew out to end the inning. The 2-3-4 hitters of the Mavericks went down one-two-three in the top of the third, but the Eagles scored in the bottom of the third. After Joseph Akers and Weston both flew out, Pennylegion hit a slow groundball to Walsh at first base. Walsh picked it up and gave it to Reece, but Pennylegion won the race to first. Pennylegion then stole second to set up Sprague. Sprague flicked a base hit to right field and Pennylegion easily scored to make it 2-0. Bauthues flew out to end the inning.

The Mavs got their only run of the game in the top of the fourth. After Bauthues struck out White for the first strikeout of the game by either pitcher, Coffey got aboard on a hit-by-pitch. Costello followed with a walk, and Thomas knocked a base hit to load the bases with one out. Tanner came up and hit a high fly ball down the left-field line that was hooking foul. Not to take chances, Weston caught the ball and Coffey scored on the sacrifice fly to make it 2-1. McGuire had runners on first and second with two outs to work with, but he hit a groundout straight to firs tbaseman Wagner to end the inning.

In the bottom of the fourth, Reece easily cruised through the 5-6-7 hitters and the game went to the fifth with the score 2-1. Walsh got an infield single in the top of the fifth, but it came with two outs and White was unable to continue the rally.

The Eagles got their last run in the fifth. Akers got a one-out walk and then scored when Weston hit a double into the left-centerfield gap. However, he was going to stop at third when the ball went underneath Tanner’s glove and past him. That was counted as an error, and the run was unearned. Regardless, it was 3-1 and Pennylegion came up with Weston on second and one out. Pennylegion lined out for the second out, though, and Weston was thrown out at third while trying to steal when Sprague came up to bat. The game went into the sixth with the score 3-1, Eagles.

The Mavs went down one-two-three in the top of the sixth; all three outs coming on groundouts. In the bottom half of the inning, Sprague led off with a single. After the first pitch to Bauthues, Marty saw Sprague was leading way off of first base and threw to first baseman Walsh. Walsh got Sprague into a rundown and McGuire eventually tagged Sprague. Bauthues picked up a walk and then he was picked off by Reece for the second out of the inning. Reece got his only strikeout of the game against the last batter he faced. Kyler Bradwick went down on three straight pitches, and the game continued to the seventh with the score 3-1.

Bauthues got his second strikeout of the game on Tanner, but then hit McGuire, and the tying run was at home plate. Ackerman stepped up and hit a long fly out to centerfield for the second out. Marty was also hit by Bauthues, and the tying run was on first base. Cleanup hitter Walsh came up and hit a deep fly ball to right field on the first pitch he saw. Rightfielder Cutsworth took a few steps back and made the catch for the final out of the game. The Eagles won 3-1.

The Mavericks had already clinched their state tournament berth when they beat Glacier Peak in the second round of the district tournament, so the only thing this game decided was when and where their next game would be. The Mavs’ next game will be next Saturday at Bannerwood Park in Bellevue at 10 a.m. with the opponent still unknown. The Eagles play next Saturday as well, but at Skagit Valley College in Mount Vernon at 1 p.m. Their opponent is also unknown.

Sports correspondent Quint Turner is a student at Meadowdale High School.