Emerald Ridge Jaguars boys baseball head coach Tim Spears kept gushing about his teams’ will and desire during the 2008 season.
Never mind the fact that the Jaguars fell one game short of reaching the state playoffs after suffering an excruciating 3-2 loss against Tahoma High School on May 10 at Heidelberg Park in Tacoma—resulting in the Jaguars being eliminated from playoff contention.
Spears said his team had a successful season considering the abundance of youth on the pitching staff this spring.
“We had a very successful season. We had 16 wins,” Spears said. “We’re all disappointed that our season is over but I’m not disappointed with the effort our guys put forth. They gave it everything they had out there. Tahoma isn’t chopped liver. They’re a pretty good team. I think our guys did a tremendous job this season.”
With Emerald Ridge trailing 3-2 in the bottom of the seventh inning, Emerald Ridge had runners on first and second with one of their best hitters at the plate — senior Logan Bushnell. Bushnell popped up to right field and the Jaguars’ season was over when the ball fell in Tahoma’s second baseman’s mitt.
“Logan has a lot of pop in his bat. He just missed it barely. We were trying to win the game right there,” Spears said. “Logan is a great kid and is so powerful. We’re going to miss him next year.”
Freshman pitcher Cameron Steffey surrendered just three runs in seven innings of work against Tahoma.
“If you would have told me before the game that Cameron would have only given up three runs I would have taken it,” Spears said. “He pitched a great game and has a bright future. We felt comfortable with him taking the hill. He did a fine job.”
Spears said the realization of seeing your season come to an end in an instant is a tough pill to swallow because of the finality of the occasion.
“It’s hard. One pitch and it’s over in an instant,” Spears said. “You believe that you’re going to get it done no matter what and when that final out comes it’s just tough. I’m so proud of the way we battled. It’s tough to win two games against quality opponents in a row. We haven’t lost back-to-back games yet this season. If we had another game to play, I think we would win it. I know we’re all disappointed right now but when we look back on this season and what we’ve accomplished there will be satisfaction there.”
Jaguars bully Bellarmine in loser-out contest
Emerald Ridge pitcher Tim Peterson refused to let the Bellarmine Lions end the Jaguars season in their first game of the district playoffs.
Peterson tossed a complete game, registering six strikeouts in the process, preserving a 7-4 victory in their opening game of the West Central District playoffs.
“Tim was throwing some nasty pitches,” Spears said. “Throwing a complete game is a tough thing to do and he did it for us.”
Emerald Ridge committed defensive errors in the early going, resulting in Bellarmine building a 3-1 lead through the first three and a half innings. In the bottom of the fourth, Emerald Ridge put up four runs giving themselves a 5-3 lead. They tacked on two more runs in the fifth to put the game on ice. Peterson tallied 3 RBI in the contest.
“It was a nice win for us. Our defensive tightened up in the later innings and Peterson did the rest,” Spears said.
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