By Quint Turner

Mountlake Terrace—Meadowdale met Mountlake Terrace Wednesday for another conference battle, and the game was all Meadowdale pitcher Billy Sullivan, as he held the Hawks to just one run. He struck out six and walked three, while only giving up four hits. Matt Hirsch did the most damage for the Mavs, driving in two on a hit, and the team added two more runs to earn a 4-1 win. The Hawks had Josh Fitch start and Jalen Pahinui finish, and combined the two pitchers gave up 9 hits and 4 runs, while striking out 5 and walking 6.

Fitch started the game off well with a strikeout against Chris Osborne. Hirsch followed with a well-hit grounder that Chris Hall dove to stop, but he could not get Hirsch at first. Tyler Ackerman was hit by a pitch and it was two on, and one out. Grantland Over hit an infield fly, and Sam Herzer grounded out to end the inning unfortunately. Sullivan came out and got the Hawks to go 1-2-3, including a great putout by Riley Bykonen when he snagged a fast ground ball that was sure to be a double, and beat Alex Hatch to the bag for the out.

Fitch struck out Bykonen and Ryan White to start the second, but then the Mavs came on strong. Brian Marty hit a single, and Torin Dooley came in as a courtesy runner. Tyler McGuire walked right after to make it two on, and two out. Osborne came up, and on a 1-1 count, Dooley tried to steal just before Fitch pitched, and he was in a pickle. Fortunately for Dooley, there was an errant throw to third that allowed Dooley to be safe, and McGuire also moved up. Then McGuire walked to make that last part moot, and Hirsch came up. He stroked a single to left field that drove in both Dooley and McGuire, and the Mavs jumped out to a 2-0 lead. Ackerman grounded out to end the inning.

Fitch hit a deep double to right field to start the second. He was driven in on a ground ball by Austin Johnson that hopped Ackerman’s glove at third and went into left field. Sullivan settled down and got Quintin Barnard to strike out, but then gave up a single to Dominic DeMeiro. Then Jason Shevenko struck out for the second out, and Jordan Yoshida followed with a walk to load the bases. However, Hall flew out to end the inning, and it was 2-1 going into the third.

The Mavs tacked on another run in the third. Over started the inning off with a single, and then Herzer hit a line drive down the left field line that scored Over from first, but Herzer was thrown out trying to go to third. Bykonen got a single right after, and advanced to second after White hit a sharp grounder to third that forced 3B Shevenko to get him instead of Bykonen. Marty walked to get runners on first and second, but McGuire struck out to end the inning. Sullivan got the 2-3-4 hitters to go down in a row in the bottom of the third, as he started to find his groove.

Pahinui came in to pitch the fourth for the Hawks. The Mavs had the top of the lineup come up in the fourth, and they all went down to end the inning. In the bottom half of the fourth, Johnson hit a single but he got caught stealing. Sullivan got Barnard to strike out again while also getting DeMeiro to fly out to end the inning.

Over started the fifth with a walk, and advanced to second on a one-out fielders choice by Bykonen. That was followed by a White walk to put runners on first and second with two outs. It looked like both would be driven in on a line drive to left field by Marty, but somehow Barnard made an incredible diving catch to keep the score at 3-1.

The Hawks almost got within one in the fifth. Yoshida was hit by a pitch with one out, then stole second. After a Hall flyout, Henry Haveman hit a single to right field. Yoshida was waved home, but McGuire nailed him with a perfect throw to end the inning. McGuire led off the sixth with a single. He was bunted over by Osborne, and Hirsch singled right after to put runners on the corners. Ackerman struck out to make it two outs, and Hirsch tried to steal second when he was thrown out, and the inning ended without a run. Sullivan gave up a lead-off walk, but then got Fitch to ground out, Johnson to line out, and Barnard to strike out again to neutralize any threat.

The Mavs tacked on another run in the seventh. Over led off with a walk, but Herzer hit into a bizarre double play. He hit a weak liner that probably should have been caught, but it bounced in front of the fielder. Over was anticipating a catch, and he dove back to first. Hall threw the ball to second to get Over out, and Herzer already stopped trying when the ball came back to first to get him out as well.

That didn’t stop the Mavs. Bykonen hit an infield single, and White hit another single to make it runners at first and second with two outs. A wild pitch later, and it was runners at second and third. Marty hit a hard grounder that allowed Bykonen to score. White also tried to advance, but was thrown out at third to end the inning. DeMeiro led off the seventh with a flyout, and Shevenko followed with a walk to try and start a threat. However, Yoshida grounded back to Sullivan, who started a 1-6-3 double play to end the game with a 4-1 win.

With the win, the Mavs are 2-4 (2-1 in conference), and they play at home Friday, again against the Hawks, at 4 p.m. With the loss, Mountlake Terrace is 2-3 (2-1 in conference).

Sports correspondent Quint Turner is a sophomore at Meadowdale High School.