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4A district baseball: four teams that can challenge top-seeded Tahoma
Pitching plays in the playoffs. It played during the regular season, too — the Tahoma Bears posted a 19-1 record with one of the South Sound’s best rotations. The crown jewel of the group: ace Neal Burtis, a 6-foot-1 lefty Oregon State commit and one of the state’s top prospects.
Burtis has thrown 35 1/3 innings this spring, compiling a 0.40 earned run average with 59 strikeouts and 16 walks. He’s not the only big arm on the staff, though. Including Burtis, three Bears pitchers with at least 20 innings have an ERA under 2.00: Talon Coker (0.42), Brayden Fenton (0.69), while senior Sean Evans (2.21) is close behind.
It’s hard not to like Tahoma’s chances in the 4A District 3/4 tournament, but there are a number of other teams with a shot to win the title heading into this month’s state tournament, also. Here are a few South Sound teams we think could challenge the top-seeded Bears.
The first round of the tournament begins on Tuesday, May 12, with the semifinals and championship game being played on Saturday, May 16 at Tahoma High School.
No. 3 Sumner (16-4)
The Spartans have just one puzzling loss to South Kitsap, but otherwise, losses came to contenders Curtis, Emerald Ridge and Olympia. P/OF Wyatt Plyler is one of the state’s top two-way players. UW commit Jake Miller has the clutch gene. When the bats are going, it’s contagious.
No. 4 Emerald Ridge (19-4)
Jags have been one of the 4A SPSL’s top programs this spring and feature a good rotation, with Jackson Dion and Zack Morris. CF Pretson Bolam has torn the cover off the ball all spring. A matchup against Olympia looms in the first round. The teams split the regular season series.
No. 5 Olympia (18-5)
Speaking of the Bears, maybe Derek Weldon’s group is peaking at the right time. Olympia closed out the regular season with a 3-1 win over Emerald Ridge and 1-0 win over Sumner in the 4A SPSL championship game, in which RHP Landyn Keister threw a complete-game shutout against the Spartans.
No. 7 Curtis (15-7)
The Vikings will have their work cut out for them, having to travel south to face second-seeded Battle Ground in the opening round. If Bryan Robinson’s group can clear that hurdle, though, I think they have a shot at reaching the championship game. A matchup against the winner of Sumner and Kennedy Catholic would await in the semifinals, and Curtis already has as a win over Sumner on its resume.
THE TOUGHEST PATH TO STATE
Because of the way the district bracket is structured, only the top eight seeds have a chance to advance to the district tournament semifinals. That leaves No. 9 Puyallup with a challenging path to the state tournament, needing to win three straight elimination games.
Can the Vikings do it? Absolutely. Since first-year coach Sean Taunt stepped aside, Puyallup has been one of the area’s hottest teams, winning 10 of its final 12 games. It’s worth noting that the second half of the schedule was more favorable than the first half, but Puyallup’s run included wins over 4A contender Kennedy Catholic and 3A contender Gig Harbor. Don’t count the Vikings out.
TNT CHAMPIONSHIP PREDICTION
No. 3 Sumner over No. 1 Tahoma
