When offense clicks, 'we are deadly'

By Dean Wong

The Ballard Beavers became the first Seattle school to qualify for the KingCo baseball playoffs this season and they made a solid run against their eastside rivals.

Ballard lost their loser out game to Redmond on May 10, 2-1 and finish their year with a 13-10 record.

In their first playoff game, Ballard defeated Lake Washington 9-7 on May 7. Nicholas Palewicz and Nico Van der Ven both pitched in the game. Van der Ven earned the win and had five strikeouts. Stephen Kelsey was 2-4 with a run. Shawn Oughton was hot at the plate with two runs batted in. He was 3-4. Andrew Wyman had one hit and added a run and a double.

The Beavers dropped the next game to Woodinville 5-4. Max McGraw had the hot bat, going 3-3 with 2 RBI.

Ballard turned in their best season in years to secure number five seed in the KingCo tournament.

The Beavers season included wins over Juanita, Eastlake, Bothell, Franklin, Garfield and Roosevelt.

Ballard trounced their archrival Roosevelt 14 to 4, ruining the Roughriders on senior day at Lower Woodland earlier this month. Zack Freeman was 1-2, with 2 RBIs; Josh Johnston was 2-3, with 3 RBI and a double. Max McGraw was 1-3 and had 2 RBIs. Nico Van der Ven was the winning pitcher for Ballard.

"If the offense is on, we are hard to beat. We are deadly," said Head Coach Kevin Miller.

The Beavers have been playing well in recent weeks and their pitching has helped carry them.

"We have momentum behind us. We have the wind in our sails and the guys are having fun," said Miller.

In the final regular season standings, Woodinville led the KingCo Conference with a 13 and 3 record. They were followed by: Bothell, 16 and 4; Redmond, 15 and 5; Lake Washington, 15 and 5; Ballard, 12 and 8; Inglemoor, 9 and 11; Eastlake, 8 and 12; Garfield and 7 and 13; Roosevelt, 3-17; and Franklin, 2 and 18.