Tritons Drop Into Loser's Bracket After Loss to Bellevue

Conor Plaisance rips a hit against Bellevue Saturday
at David Story Field. The Tritons would lose, however.

box score

LONGVIEW -- Edmonds CC had beaten Bellevue five straight times but the Bulldogs got a good measure of revenge against their North Region rivals at Story Field Saturday after they topped the Tritons 6-5 in the winner's bracket game of the NWAACC Championships. 

EdCC drops into the loser's bracket where they will take on Tacoma in a loser-out game Sunday at 2:05 pm. Bellevue (28-21) will face Lane at 7:05 pm. The lone unbeaten squad remaining in the tournament, the Bulldogs are assured a spot in the title game and can finish no less than second place. Edmonds needs to win Sunday and then twice on Monday to claim the NWAACC title.

EdCC got off to a good start on Saturday, plating a pair of first inning runs off of Bulldog ace Nick Kiel. Ryan Budnick and Chris Osborne each delivered RBI hits in the frame. But as would be the case for most of the game, the Tritons failed to capitalize with more runs. 

Bellevue pounced on Triton starter Austin Lee, scoring a run in the first and three more in the second to take a 4-2 lead. Edmonds got one back in the third but two more runs by BC in the home half of the inning off of reliever Torin Dooley had the Bulldogs up 6-3.

That would be the last runs for Bellevue of the day as Dooley settled in and pitched brilliantly over the final five frames.

The Triton offense chipped away with runs in the fourth and fifth but despite an ever increasing pitch count by Kiel and numerous opportunities, Edmonds could not come up with the clutch hit. Kiel (7-4) sealed the win with a foul pop up on his 139th pitch of the game.

Lee dropped to 8-1 after allowing four runs on four hits in two innings of work. Dooley fanned seven and gave up two runs in his five-inning stint.

Edmonds (36-8) had 13 hits and three walks Saturday but stranded 11 runners. Osborne and Conor Plaisance each had three hits in the loss.

Tacoma and Edmonds finished the regular season ranked No. 1 and 2 in the NWAACC respectively. The Titons enter Sunday with a 39-7 record.