PHOTO BY ROCKY ROSS

Fife second baseman Arek Jones tries to apply the tag on a Washington player sliding into second. Though Jones did not get the out, the Trojans did get a 5-2 win to stay in first place in the Nisqually League.

Poole pitches past Patriots

By Ben Miller

Due to the bad weather that has seemed to be the calling card of this spring so far, the Fife Trojans baseball team met up with the Washington Patriots for a double header April 17. With No. 2 starter C.J. Poole on top of his game, the Trojans were able to score a victory in game one of the set.

Poole pitched six innings, giving up two runs and striking out 10 Patriots while earning the win. After a 28-pitch first inning that saw Washington plate one run to get on the board first, Poole settled down to help lead Fife to a 5-2 win.

“He doesn’t look like a hard throwing pitcher, but he throws pretty hard for a smaller guy,” said Fife coach Lance Nixon. “He really competes and just has done a nice job for me this year and even last year.”

With the Patriots leading 1-0 after the first inning, Fife knew that it had to respond. And with the lower half of its lineup coming to the plate in the bottom of the second, the Trojans started to hit.

Outfielder Brian Vanwert got things started with a leadoff single to the left side. First baseman Cameron Booser followed that with a single up the middle, and Vanwert was able to score from first on an error by Washington’s right fielder. Booser advanced to third on the miscue.

Nick Latta, the next batter, took a 0-1 pitch up the middle for a single that allowed Booser to cruise in from third, giving Fife its first lead at 2-1. After a single by Poole, a sacrifice bunt by Matt Shaw and a sacrifice fly by second baseman Arek Jones, Latta had rounded the bases and scored to give the Trojans a 3-1 lead going into the third inning.

In the third, neither team got on the scoreboard, but after Poole struck out the side to start off the fourth inning, the Trojans were able to add one more on the board. Again, it was the bottom of the order that did a lot of the work.

“From top to bottom, our offense is a pretty strong offense,” Nixon said. “One through nine can hit the ball, and for our team, if a team relaxes against our seven, eight or nine hitters, they will hurt you.”

That is exactly what they did. Latta and Poole led off with back-to-back singles to start the fourth, and Shaw hit one to the left side to drive in Latta from second base. That put Fife up 4-1. In the game, Latta, Poole and Shaw – the Trojans’ bottom third of the order – went a combined 5-8 with two runs scored and two RBIs.

“We’re a pretty tough team to face,” Nixon said. “The two losses that we have, we gave up runs we shouldn’t have – we hurt ourselves.”

The two teams traded runs in the fifth inning as the Trojans waltzed to the 5-2 win to help them keep their first-place standing in the Nisqually League. The biggest game of the season may just be coming up April 28 as fellow league-leader Eatonville comes into town. A win against the Cruisers and it would set up a showdown at Eatonville April 30 for the league title.

“We have the potential to do something pretty big here at Fife,” Nixon said.

Fife baseball has not won a trophy of any kind since winning the league championship in 1963. Nixon has been trying to make that fact a driving force for this season.

 “They know what’s on the line here,” Nixon said. “They want to make a statement this year and they haven’t had a chance to and this year they do.”

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