Southridge rallies to punch ticket to 3A title game

Is the third time the charm? The Southridge Suns will find out Saturday night.

The Suns, who reached the 3A state Final Four for the third year in a row, used an 11-hit barrage, and took advantage of five Eastside Catholic errors for an 11-5 victory Friday night at Gesa Stadiaum in Pasco, punching their ticket to the championship game.

"They came at us," Suns coach Tim Sanders said. "We knew they would. Wyatt (Hull) has been really good for two years, this just wasn't his day. We are an army — we went to the next guy. Kody (Bruton) was fabulous."

Southridge (22-4) will take on Kelso (19-8) in the title game at 7 p.m. The Suns lost a 5-1 heartbreaker to Gig Harbor in last's year's title game, and finished third the year before.

"It doesn't get any better than this," Southridge first baseman Brendan Tool said. "We played defense behind our pitcher. Our starter (Hull) didn't have his best game, but we had someone right behind him. We bounce back pretty quick and bite back harder. We are going to have people get in the box and get the job done."

After turning a double play and shutting down the Crusaders in the top of the first, the Suns went to work. Tool hit a two-run single, and another run came in off a Jacob Newbry fielder's choice for a 3-0 lead.

Eastside Catholic got two runs back in the top of the second, then tacked on three more in the third. Sophomore Kenji Suzuki, who already has committed to Clemson, drove in one run with a triple. That ended Hull's night, but Bruton's was just getting started.

The Crusaders led 5-3 in the middle of the third, and looked to have the Suns on their heels with two outs and one man on in the bottom half of the inning.

That's when things went sideways for Eastside Catholic.

Starter Will Armbruester hit Casey Proctor with a pitch, and Jake Harvey followed with a two-run triple the center field wall. Lane Hailey followed with an RBI single to give Southridge the lead for good, but the Suns weren't done.

Nick Grade walked, Tool reached on an error, Jack Sanders drove in a run, and two more scored errors for a beautiful two-out rally that ended with a 9-5 lead.

Southridge added two more runs in the fourth, but the damage had already been done.

"When it was 5-3, you look around and they had the momentum," Tim Sanders said. "We put the ball in play, put pressure on them and didn't give them the easy out. The kids had good at-bats and put the ball in play. That's what good teams do, they answer. That was a big answer."

Bruton faced just one batter over the minimum the next four innings, preserving the win in the biggest game of his career.

"I'm pretty happy," Bruton said. "I wanted to win and I did what I could to get us to the championship game. The last out, I was so pumped up. I did my job and got us to the 'ship. Hopefully our starter will come out tomorrow and take us home."

Armbruester, Niemann (4) and Rhoa; Hull, Bruton (3) and L.Hailey. EC: Sanidad 2B; Beltran RBI; Suzuki 3B, RBI; Michels RBI; Dahlstrom 2 RBIs. SHS: Harvey 3x5, 3B, 2 RBIs; L.Hailey RBI; Tool 3x3, 2 RBIs; Sanders RBI.

This story was originally published May 25, 2018 at 11:27 PM with the headline "Southridge rallies to punch ticket to 3A title game."