By Matt Phelps

Superstition and curses go together with baseball like Paul Allen and money. The Red Sox had the Curse of the Bambino and the Cubs have the curse of the Billy goat. The Islanders have the curse of 3A KingCo.

The Mercer Island baseball team needed just one win in two games last week to make the playoffs for the first time since 1999 and came up just short both times.

“They made a good run,” said Mercer Island head coach Doug Williams. “Their approach to the game is different this year. The attitudes are pointing in the right direction.”

After starting the week with an important 5-2 win over Interlake on May 10, the Islanders seemed to be rolling. The team committed no errors behind a strong outing by starting pitcher Sam Selby, who threw five innings and gave up just two runs. Brian Kitamaura led the Islanders with two RBI and two runs scored.

“We were in every game this year,” said Islander catcher Alex Gamoran.

The win gave Mercer Island a chance to clinch a playoff spot with either a win over Newport Wednesday or a loss by Sammamish. Neither happened as the Islander’s fielding woes came back in the form of four errors on the field. The Islanders lost the game 10-7 despite the fact that both Gamoran and Selby collected two RBI each.

So the season came down to the team’s third game in as many days against Sammamish.

The Islanders struck first on the scoreboard, as Selby drove a fastball into the gap for a double. Gamoran followed with a RBI base hit down the left field line.

Sophomore Robby Philbrick got the call to start the game for the Islanders. The specter of a curse was heavy during the first inning.

A hard hit ball down the first-base line was right in first baseman Kenny Kim’s line of sight when it hit the bag, jumped up and flew wildly into foul ground. The runner stole second on the next pitch. The runner then attempted to steal third and the throw from the catcher glanced off third baseman’s mitt and rolled into left field as Sammamish tied the game.

Philbrick didn’t survive the second inning as two triples and two base hits led to four runs for the Totems. Another sophomore entered the game for the Islanders, James Hotson, who earned the final out of the second inning and silenced the Totems’ bats. Hotson went three innings, giving up just one run thanks to a walk a balk and a double into the gap.

Mercer Island entered the seventh and final inning down 6-1 before scoring four runs. Islander David Graham had the biggest hit of the inning with a little bloop single over second base to score two runs and bring the go-ahead run to the plate. But a full count strike out ended the contest and the Islanders’ season.

“We thought it was over, but we made it close,” said Gamoran. “The guys really came together.”

Last year the Islanders fell prey to injuries and in 2003 Mercer Island gave up seven runs to Bellevue during the final inning of a tie-breaker game for the final playoff spot.