Facing a tie game in the second round of state, Westview turned to a celestial slugger to make a key play and spark a win.
It was a quiet start for the No. 6 Wildcats Wednesday evening, May 22, as they hosted No. 11 Barlow, with it knotted 1-1 headed into the bottom of the 5th inning.
The Bruins had scored on the previous at bat, courtesy junior Kiyoshi Kiyokawa, who took advantage of a near-out by Wildcat senior centerfielder Caeden Baughman, who just missed on a heroic sliding catch — his efforts were rewarded moments later, as Westview caught a greedy Bruins baserunner at second to stop the bleeding.
That is when Westview senior outfielder Ezra Vice stepped up to the plate with the bases loaded. He smacked one deep right center, causing the Westview faithful to leap to their feet as it initially looked to be a homer.
“It felt really great off the bat, but I just hit it so high,” Vice said. “I was worried it was just going to keep going to the moon, but (Barlow) couldn’t handle it out there.”
That hit scored senior Cole Katayama-Stall and junior Holden Bybee, and avalanched into a series of bright plays from the Wildcats: senior Joel Hong stole home after a bad pickoff throw to third; and senior Kevin Penna’s single brought home the big bat of Vice.
Once those Westview (20-8) bats started cracking, they never looked back, beating Barlow (17-9) 6-1 in the second round of the 2024 OSAA 6A Baseball State Championships.
It was a party for the Wildcats, as just across campus No. 1 Westview softball downed No. 17 Barlow 9-3, after a strange twist of fate in the brackets paired the two schools.
For baseball, what helped alleviate the stuttering start for was some nasty pitching from a pair on the mound. Junior pitcher Maxwell Stuart held the Bruins to just one run through five innings, and then senior reliever Gunnar Pedersen finished it, though he first had to score the final run.
In the 6th inning, Pedersen got on base with a single, and then was brought home on a hit by junior first baseman Greg Bologoff.
“That is too easy,” Pedersen roared as he bounced back to the dugout.
Those emotions buoyed him through the final inning, which turned into a battle as Barlow got runners on base. Facing the daunting deficit, and two outs, junior Brodan Curtiss hit a single and Kiyokawa got a double.
But Pedersen got the final strike out to secure the win.
Now Westview is gearing up for the battle for Beaverton in the quarterfinals 5 p.m. Friday, May 24. They will travel the short five miles to square off with No. 3 Sunset (26-2), who bested No. 19 Sherwood 4-2 in round two.
The Apollos won the season series earlier this month 2-1 (5-2, 0-1, 7-2).
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