Osborne's Hit Lifts EdCC Over Tacoma

DJ Oliver back flips before EdCC's win over Tacoma.
Oliver would get the win nearly 7 hours later

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LONGVIEW - Despite a nearly five-hour rain delay and a ton of missed opportunities, Edmonds CC topped Tacoma CC 3-2 in ten innings Sunday night in a loser-out game at the NWAACC tournament. DH Chris Osborne delivered the game-winning hit with two outs in the tenth, a shot that hit the base of the center field wall. 

With the hard-fought victory, the Tritons live another day and will face Lane (30-17) at 12:05 pm Monday. If EdCC wins that game the Tritons will meet up with Bellevue (28-22) and play for the NWAACC title at 3:05 pm.

Sophomore Colin Samuelson started for Edmonds against TCC and went six solid innings in which he didn't allow a run. The Titans didn't get a hit until the fourth but would threatened in both the fifth and sixth innings. However, a double play erased one threat and a few hard shots that were gloved ended the other. 

The Tritons were up 2-0 at that point thanks to RBI hits by outfielders TC Florentine and Matt Becker. That's when the rain started falling on Lower Columbia's Story Field.

The game was halted in the middle of the sixth at around 3:30 pm. Play wasn't resumed until 8:00 pm but EdCC's offense didn't show up for more than another hour. The Tritons failed to score from the second inning on while a fired-up Tacoma squad pushed across runs in the eighth and ninth to tie the game at 2-2.

Edmonds finally got their bats going in the tenth. Becker started things off with a one out single to left. Catcher Kyle Olson followed with a single to right that put the speedy Becker on third. The Titans then intentionally walked Florentine to set up a force out at any bag. 

A strikeout by first baseman Ryan Budnick had Tacoma one out away from escaping the jam but Osborne put together an amazing at-bat and finally crushed a full-count offering from Joey Gamache for the walk-off.

DJ Oliver picked up the win for EdCC (37-8) after two innings of one run relief. Kameron Miner threw the seventh and eighth frames, yielding just one run.

The NWAACC's No. 1-ranked Titans end the year with a 39-8 record.

No. 2-ranked Edmonds beat Lane 8-0 Thursday in an Opening Round game but the Titans, who play in the South, have gone on a roll since, topping Columbia Basin 6-0, Treasure Valley 7-0 and Bellevue 6-2.