Lynden baseball fell just short of its second straight 2A state championship appearance, falling 2-0 to Columbia River in the semifinals on Friday, May 24 at Joe Martin Stadium.
A pitcher’s duel for most of the game, No. 2-seeded Columbia River (21-6) scored two runs in the bottom of the second and held on for the victory. No. 6 Lynden (21-6) made contact all game but had 12 flyouts in the loss.
“It’s hard but it’s baseball,” Lynden head coach Cory White said. “I respect the heck out of their program, but I’d love to play them again.”
Lynden dropped into the third/fourth place game against the loser of No. 1 Enumclaw and No. 4 Anacortes. That game will be at 10 a.m. on Saturday, May 25.
“Our goal now is we want to be 1-1 after this weekend, right?” White said. “That’s what it boils down to. You’ve got to flush it and move on. We can’t turn back time and redo anything.”
Senior pitcher and University of Washington signee Lane Simonsen threw all six innings for Lynden, allowing four hits, two earned runs and one walk while striking out nine. Columbia River senior pitcher Zachary Ziebell gave up three hits, no runs and no walks while striking out two.
Columbia River had three of its four hits in the bottom of the second.
The Rapids’ scoring began when senior Cole Backlund dropped an RBI single into right field to score senior Peter Lubisich. Sophomore Kian Siegel then singled to load the bases for the Rapids.
Simonsen, who was spotless before Columbia River’s sudden spurt, hit senior Noah Larson with a pitch to walk in junior Harrison Hoffarth.
Lynden escaped the second inning with a 2-0 deficit that could have been much larger.
“We just didn’t execute what we needed to do in that situation,” White added. “If we execute, then I think we come out of that inning unscathed.”
The Lions found consistent contact in the top of the fourth inning. Sophomore Matthew Carroll got it started with a line-drive single. Senior Cooper Moore popped up another single on Lynden’s next at-bat to put two runners on.
A miscue by Ziebell on a pick-off attempt advanced Lynden’s runners, putting Carroll at third. However, a lineout and flyout on back-to-back plate appearances ended the half-inning to preserve the two-run lead for Columbia River.
Simonsen buckled down and prevented the Rapids from putting any more runs on the board. Lynden’s offense, however, couldn’t keep the ball out of the air.
“It’s just disappointing, right?” White said. “We told him he pitched well enough to win that baseball game for us, and we didn’t pick him up in some areas, but he is the ultimate team player.”
Connor J. Benintendi is a former CDN sports reporter, send tips and information to newstips@cascadiadaily.com.
