The Issaquah JV baseball team lost to Eastlake 3-4 on April 18 after the game was called in the 6th inning due to poor weather conditions. The game started off slow with neither team scoring, until multiple errors from Issaquah led to Eastlake scoring two runs by stealing home. Two Eastlake players were then batted in, increasing their lead to four runs. Eastlake took a comfortable lead by the fourth inning while Issaquah struggled to score, despite having multiple base hits from junior Colin McBride and sophomore Wyatt Hess.

During the fifth inning, the effects of the rain became apparent when both teams struggled to pitch, giving up plenty of walks as a result, but Issaquah still had to prevent any more runs from being scored against them. Junior Vinny Scalzo and junior Luke Reynolds played great defense in the outfield, catching any fly-ball that came their way, while sophomore Justin Chan had multiple great plays from shortstop.

After not letting up any runs in the fifth inning, Issaquah started to come back from their four-run deficit,  but it was not in the way anyone was expecting. The ball became too wet to throw, which caused Eastlake pitchers to either hit Issaquah players with the ball, or walk them to first base. Over half of Issaquah’s lineup were hit by pitches, with players like Junior Ryan Garcia getting hit by the pitch more than once.

By the sixth inning, Issaquah scored three runs just off of walks or getting hit by the pitch, with an additional three players occupying first, second, and third base with no outs. At this rate, Issaquah appeared to have taken the lead, until officials called the game due to the Eastlake pitchers being unable to properly grip the baseball. It was a game that upset many of the spectators, as they believed Eastlake had been given a win that they didn’t deserve.

Junior Luke Reynolds says, “It was an unfortunate ending and the officiating was the worst I had experienced in years.” Junior Vinny Scalzo agreed, saying, “I feel the umpires officiated very poorly because we still had dry baseballs, but the umpires came and told us before the game was canceled that this was going to be the last inning. I also feel like if they were going to call it, don’t do it when we basically have the win in our hands with bases loaded and zero outs.” There were issues with Issaquah’s defense in the first half of the game, which is what caused them to give up four runs. Reynolds said, “The biggest problems were errors and walks, but I have never had a game end like that.” Coach Dennis Chapman says, “Eastlake’s pitcher had excellent velocity and command of his pitches. He was keeping our batters off balance. We pitched poorly in the second and committed a couple of errors along with a balk which resulted in Eastlake scoring 4. Our pitchers controlled them before and after the second inning.“

It was an unfortunate loss for the Eagles, who were a couple pitches away from tying the game and potentially winning in the seventh inning. However, this hasn’t lowered the Eagle’s spirits, with Chapman saying, “Albeit, while our team was disappointed with the outcome, we put ourselves in a rough spot in the fourth. Our guys bounced back today (April 20) winning 2-1 against an excellent Inglemoor JV team. We still have a chance to win the league title, which is our goal. One game at a time.”