On Sat. April 22, Issaquah C-Team baseball faced off against Redmond C-Team baseball in a series of two games. In the first, Issaquah took a strong 17-2 win thanks to strong pitching by freshman Rowan Miller and great batting all around. This win brought them up to a 3 and 1 record, a strong way to begin the season.

The first inning began strong for Redmond. Issaquah’s Miller walked freshman Jack Kaskel and freshman Isaiah McMahan, and, after a missed pitch that could not be reached by catcher freshman Joe Foss, they stole second and third bases. With two strikes, Redmond’s Cade Niemann made a clutch hit to run for one and send Kaskel to home plate. Another missed pitch let McMahan run to home plate before Miller finally struck out Redmond to end the top of the inning.

In the bottom of the first inning, Redmond seemed to maintain their momentum from the start of the match at first. Pitcher freshman Kotaro Ishiyama threw a nice pitch that Issaquah’s freshman Tristan Turi hit into the outfield but caught by Redmond for a quick out. These good looks for Redmond ended as Griffin Neel sent another ball high into the outfield for what seemed to be an easy catch, except the ball slipped out of Redmond’s glove and Neel ran to first base. While Issaquah’s next batter, Nathan McBride, was at the plate, Neel managed to steal second base, and then third, so when McBride hit a nice single, Neel was already running home for Issaquah’s first of many points. Successful hits by  Foss, freshman Brody Edwins, and Miller, combined with walks for sophomore Ryan Tykodi, freshman Brayden Chan, freshman Evan Doan, and Turi and a strike out for freshman Boyd Noble net Issaquah four more points before Neel hit a single that sent Doan to home plate but sent Miller out. The first inning was over, 6-2 Issaquah.

The second inning was short for Redmond, as a combination of strong pitching from Miller, with a strikeout on Redmond’s Caedan Tucker, and great team play from Doan and McBride that sent freshman Mason Phillipi and freshman Sawyer Long out to end the top of the inning scoreless for Redmond. Redmond switched their pitcher to freshman Wyatt Silverman for the next half of the inning, but it was not enough to stop Issaquah. Despite McBride being struck out, a strong double from Chan with the bases loaded scored two runs early. A set up for another bases-loaded hit by Miller came soon after, where he was caught out, but Issaquah scored another two runs. Turi hit a single for another run after Noble was walked. With a walk on Neel, the bases were loaded for a third time and after another walk on McBride that ticked off another run, Foss smashed a double straight down the field that scored three runs for Issaquah. The inning ended right after, when Tykodi was struck out, but not before Issaquah made the score 15-2.

Redmond’s third inning was mostly uneventful as before due to strong pitching from Miller and Issaquah’s field team playing strong together. While a missed pitch set up Kaskel to steal third base and then home, McMahan was stopped while trying to steal second. Miller followed this up with two strikeouts to finish the top of the inning quick. Issaquah scored two extra points in the third inning, one by Luicien Alabic, and one by Liam Adcox, triumphantly ending the game 17-3.

The energy from both dugouts was strong, and despite Redmond falling behind early, they never stopped playing their hearts out. Foss reflected after the game that his team “worked well together to not let up on the gas. We kept on adding on even when we knew we were going to win.” A win like this is always a great motivator for a team to do well in the rest of the season, and hopefully Issaquah carries this momentum on to keep dominating in their next games.