Smith Walk-Off Seals Impact Win in GSL Washington State Championships in Seattle
SEATTLE - Cole Smith crushed a long, bases-loaded, walk-off hit to deep left-center with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning to key Missoula Impact Baseball Club to a dramatic 2-1 victory over Washington Awards Elite in the GSL Washington State Championships 18U tournament in Kirkland, Washington.
Sawyer Tackett turned in a dynamite outing as Impact’s starting pitcher, tossing 5 and 2/3 innings of three-hit ball, with zero earned runs allowed and five strikeouts. Tackett displayed his best velocity of the season and had excellent command of his pitches. Hunter Johns threw two brilliant hitless innings in relief, keeping the game tied and setting the stage for the extra innings heroics.
Smith drove in both Impact runs with an impressive 2-for-4 day, including a line drive RBI single to right field that tied the game in the third inning. Kody Evans hammered a double, and Marek Hall and Landin Ramsay chipped in hits.
Missoula played sparkling defense to back the stellar pitching performance by Tackett and Johns. Evans made a great running catch to kill a rally, Ramsay made a diving stop to end the seventh inning, and Smith had a spectacular outfield assist in throwing out a runner at third base from right field.
“It was a good team win,” said Colton Little, Missoula Impact Director of Baseball Operations. “The boys handled the pressure and found a way to win. Some mental errors to clean up but happy to get the first win of the tourney.”
Awards Elite jumped on the board in the top of the first. Leadoff hitter Wilbur Mead reached on an error and Chris Hennessy lined a single to right field, but Smith threw a strike to Matt Doty to nail Mead at third base. After a Camden Edinger single to left, Hennessy scored on a stolen base and throw that got away at third. However, Tackett pitched out of the jam to keep it at 1-0.
Awards Elite starter Cal Moller sailed through the first two innings but Impact rallied in the third. Tackett ripped a sharp ground ball off the glove of the third baseman that was ruled by the official scorekeeper as an error. Ramsay then drilled a line drive single to center. With two outs and two strikes, Smith smoked a line drive RBI single to right field to tie the game, 1-1.
The pitchers duel continued through the seven innings, punctuated by Tackett striking out the side in the fourth inning. With a runner on first and two outs in the seventh, Ramsay made a diving stop on a grounder up the middle and tagged second base to end the inning. Missoula failed to score in the bottom of the seventh but the time limit had not expired so the game went to extra innings. The rules called for automatic runners on all three bases and one out to start the inning.
Johns induced a shallow fly ball to Madden Hensel in left field and then got out of the inning unscathed on a fly to center, setting the stage for the dramatic ending.
Ramsay tapped a grounder to first base that resulted in a force out at the plate, bringing Smith up as the last batter of the game with two outs.
Smith, the sweet-swinging lefty college commit, laced an outside fastball to the gap in deep left-center to drive in the winning run.
Missoula plays two pool play games on Saturday, starting at 10:00 PST against Stod’s Knights, the Seattle-area club founded by former MLB pitcher Bob Stoddard.