Lynden won the third and final battle of the season with league rival Anacortes, 2-1, and the Lions finished third in the 2A state baseball tournament on Saturday, May 25 at Joe Martin Stadium.
After beating Anacortes in the regular season, the Lions lost the 2A District 1 championship to the Seahawks, 5-4, in extra innings on May 9. Lynden head coach Cory White said the team approached Saturday’s game like it was the final contest in a three-game series.
“If you can sneak out of districts, our league prepares us really well,” White said. “It shows today when you’ve got the two teams that came out of districts playing for the third-, fourth-place game and two teams that easily could be playing today at four o’clock [in the state championship].”
The Lions would have rather been playing for a state championship, but last year they ended the season with a loss in the title game. This year, they got to walk off the field with a victory.
“Just walking off the field with my guys after a win is always fun,” Lynden senior and University of Washington signee Lane Simonsen said. “We had a great time at the park.”
After two scoreless innings, Lynden went up 1-0 after freshman Gordy Bedlington grounded one to Anacortes senior shortstop Rex Larson, who couldn’t corral it, allowing sophomore Spencer Adams to score.
The Lions extended their lead in the top of the sixth when senior River Langstraat hit a two-out single to second base, and sophomore Matthew Carroll got home. Senior Cooper Moore attempted to reach third after the run crossed but was out there to end the inning.
Anacortes got one on base in the bottom of the seventh, but Lynden hung on for the win.
“We are prouder than heck of these guys, just because we didn’t know what we were able to do with this crew this year,” White added. “These kids worked really hard and bought into the team philosophy.”
Senior Kael Stapleton earned the win on the mound for Lynden, pitching a complete game and allowing six hits, no earned runs and one walk while striking out four.
Lynden had just four hits, but four batters were walked and Stapleton was hit by pitches twice — supplementing the Lions’ total base runners. Carroll had half of Lynden’s hits, finishing 2 for 4 with a run scored.
Lynden will graduate six seniors ahead of next season, including Simonsen, who will be back at Joe Martin Stadium this summer following his graduation to play with the Bellingham Bells.
“It’ll probably kick in tonight,” Simonsen said of his emotions on playing his final high school game. “I’m just so thankful to be a Lynden Lion.”
Connor J. Benintendi is a former CDN sports reporter, send tips and information to newstips@cascadiadaily.com.
