Though last year’s prize was bigger, that didn’t make Friday’s prize any less sweet.
With a 6-1 victory over the Juanita Rebels, the reigning 3A state champion Mercer Island baseball team secured its first 3A KingCo league title since 2010 Friday night at Island Crest Park. It was the first KingCo crown the Islanders won outright since 1998.
“Obviously we’re excited,” Mercer Island coach Dominic Woody said. “Our first team goal all year was to make sure we finished No. 1 in KingCo and won it so we could be the top seed going into the playoffs. I’m ecstatic right now. The boys are happy and we’re going to to enjoy this one for a little while.”
Harrison Goonewardene threw five innings of shutout baseball, allowing no hits and striking out 11 as he helped the Islanders (16-3, 16-2 in KingCo) to their 10th-straight win and a league trophy.
Goonewardene, who improved his season record to 5-0 from the mound, was limited to under 70 pitches after missing time last week due to illness. The pitch count cut short the Mercer Island senior’s bid for a no-hitter.
“Anytime you got a no-no going, and he punched out 11 in five innings, obviously you’d like to ride the guy,” Woody said. “But for us and the ballclub right now, the most important thing is just making sure everybody is 100 percent going into the playoffs.”
Goonewardene looked sharp right from the get-go, striking out the first six batters he faced and eight of the first nine. Not a single Rebel reached base until Jayson Schroeder drew a walk with two outs in the top of the fourth inning.
By then, Mercer Island had already built a four-run advantage, as the Islanders wasted no time to get going offensively. Each of Mercer Island’s first three batters of the game registered hits, with Josh Stenberg shooting an RBI single down the first base line to put the Islanders on the board. A couple of sacrifice flies from Anthony Scalzo and Parker Simpson and an RBI single from Alex Shanks gave Mercer Island a 4-0 lead over the Rebels (7-13, 7-11) at the end of the first inning.
It was more than enough for Goonewardene and relief pitcher Andrew Pickles, who combined to strike out 15 Juanita batters while holding the Rebels to two hits.
“I was attacking fastball and then would just go back to that slider, curveball, and it would work,” Goonewardene said. “If they didn’t need to swing at two strikes, then I could put it in the zone. It was just really on. I found the release for that early and just kept going with it.”
Both of Juanita’s hits came in the top of the sixth inning. Christian Blackburn spoiled the no-hit bid, smacking a one-out double into center field. Cody Wilson brought him home with an RBI single to break the shutout.
Amidst the celebration of winning a league title, a recurring theme among the Islander players and coaches was that Friday’s win, while special, wasn’t the end goal by any means.
“Obviously, we don’t want to [celebrate] too much,” Goonewardene said. “We don’t want to think of this as our last celebration because we want more at the end and we’re still hungry. We’re not going to finish for anything short of that last game, so we’re just going to keep working and fighting for it.”
The KingCo 3A district baseball tournament begins Saturday, May 7 at Bannerwood Park in Bellevue.
