Through five innings against the Liberty Patriots, Mercer Island appeared well on its way to suffering the team’s first loss in five games. The Islanders found themselves in a five-run hole, their bats had gone silent and they were in desperate need of a spark.
But like Yogi Berra once said, it ain’t over ’til it’s over. And though it took a while, the Islanders proved as much Friday night.
Parker Simpson and Noah Hsue each batted in two runs as Mercer Island used a six-run sixth-inning rally to come from behind and beat Liberty 6-5 Friday at Island Crest Park.
Four of Mercer Island’s seven hits came during that sixth inning to galvanize an otherwise dormant offensive showing.
“It just shows that we obviously have a talented ball club and we can put up five or six [runs] in an inning,” Mercer Island coach Dominic Woody said. “As far as we’re concerned, the mindset is that we’re in every game all the time until all those outs are gone. That was a perfect illustration of it right there.”
Liberty starting pitcher Torey Anderson held the Islanders (11-3, 11-2 in KingCo) to three hits leading up to the sixth inning as the Patriots (6-8, 6-7) built their five-run advantage. The Patriots led 3-0 in the top of the first inning, with Riley Wingerson drawing a bases-loaded walk from Mercer Island pitcher Harrison Goonewardene and Austin Regis following suit with a 2-RBI single. Two innings later, Regis brought in another run with his second base hit of the game. An RBI double from Alex Olague made it a 5-0 contest in the top of the fifth.
But Mercer Island came to life the next inning. With one out and the bases loaded, Jack Smith got things going with a sacrifice fly to put the Islanders on the board. Alex Shanks loaded the bases again with an infield single, bringing up the pinch-hitting Simpson, who smacked a 1-2 pitch into center field for a 2-RBI single, making it a 5-3 affair.
“Throughout the whole game we were trying to grind it out, it just came down to the sixth inning,” Mercer Island outfielder Greg Fuchs said. “Parker had a great hit to bring in two runs, that was exactly what we asked from him. Without having any cuts on the day, just coming in and grinding out a base knock was huge.”
Batting next, Hsue blasted a 2-0 pitch deep into right field for a bases-clearing triple to tie the game.
“We were just trying to scrap for one [run] because we knew once we got one, it would snowball into something bigger,” said Hsue, who finished 2-for-4 at the plate. “[Anderson] had been throwing me a lot of inside fastballs. I got into a 2-0 count and he had to come with something, probably another fastball. I was ready for that and just tried to hit one hard.”
Fuchs brought Hsue home with the go-ahead RBI single. The Mercer Island sophomore shot a liner right into the ribs of Liberty relief pitcher Riley Wingerson, who collapsed to the ground for several minutes. Wingerson stayed in the game and managed to finish the inning, though it proved to be the decisive run.
Tyrell Little closed the game from the mound for Mercer Island to pick up the save. In a relief appearance, Andrew Pickles earned the win, allowing one run off three hits in two innings of work. Michael Petrie went 2-for-3 at the plate for the Islanders, while Olague and Regis each finished with two hits for the Patriots.
Next up, Mercer Island will host Sammamish (1-13, 0-13) at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Island Crest Park.
