The West Seattle baseball team came into the Metro League playoffs on a five-game winning streak, and had won seven of their last eight games.

With a 12-4 record in the Metro League, the boys were crowned Sound division champions, and were awarded with the top seed in the playoffs. They beat Ingraham, Nathan Hale, Franklin, Rainier Beach, and Chief Sealth twice this year, while also defeating Seattle Prep and Lakeside.

Four of the top 10 teams in the state come from the other side of the Metro League- Eastside Catholic, Bishop Blanchet, O’dea, and Bainbridge. These are the only four teams in the league to defeat West Seattle this year. However, going into the playoffs, the Wildcats knew they had to play one of these teams in the first round. This ended up being Bainbridge, who had beaten the Wildcats 17-0 earlier in the year on the island.

West Seattle knew they had to give a more solid effort this time if they had a chance at beating the Spartans. However, the result was very similar, as Bainbridge scored five runs in the second inning, and won easily, 12-0.

After returning from an injury-plagued 2008 season, junior Trevor Martin leads the team in hits, batting average and RBIs. Juniors Stephan Adams and Ryan Wiggins are tied for the team lead in home runs, with three each.

Senior Bryan Duncan started the year injured, but has come on strong as a pitcher, going 2-0 with a 1.21 earned run average. Senior Austin Lastimado has a solid .400 batting average, and has been one of the best defensive players as well.

Kyle MacDonald is a West Seattle High School journalism student and this article appears originally in the school newspaper, The Chinook.