Class 4A baseball: Rezendes pitches Shorewood to 3rd
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TACOMA - Joel Rezendes' mistake made him mad. His response helped make the Shorewood Thunderbirds winners in their final baseball game as they earned the Class 4A third-place trophy with a 7-2 victory over Auburn at Cheney Stadium yesterday.
It was 0-0 in the top of the fourth inning when Rezendes decided to throw a first-pitch curveball to Auburn's hard-hitting Alhaji Turay. Turay tanked the ball over the left-field wall to give the Trojans their first hit a 1-0 lead. It was Turay's 11th home run of the season.
"It was a bad pitch," Rezendes said. "That guy's a real good hitter. There's a reason he's going to get drafted. I tried to sneak a curveball by him and it ended up out in the parking lot."
And that ended up being the incentive Rezendes needed as he struck out the next six batters and shut down the second-ranked Trojans until the seventh.
"I got ticked," said Rezendes, who struck out 10 and wound up with a three-hitter to finish the season 6-1.
The Shorewood offense responded, too, scoring five times on five hits, two errors and a balk. Auburn starter Aaron Horner (2-2) retired the first 10 batters before Sean Rybar smacked the first of four straight T-bird hits.
Shorewood (22-5), making its first trip to the Final Four, was coming off a disappointing 2-0 loss to North Central of Spokane in the semifinals Friday.
Auburn (19-7), which had won 16 of its past 17 games coming into the semifinals, was buzzed 11-1 by Federal Way Friday and wound up losing its final two games to finish fourth. The Trojans were third in their only other Final Four appearance, in 1996.
"We didn't have a very good weekend," Trojan Coach Tim Kuykendall said, "but at the same time, we had a great ride there at the end. It's been a blast."
Auburn 000 100 1 - 2 3 3
Shorewood 000 502 x - 7 8 1
Aaron Horner, Tyler Sandland (4), Joey Sahlin (6) and Brandon Bratsch, David Leber (6); Joel Rezendes and Mike Hodges. WP - Rezendes (6-1). LP - Horner (2-2). Highlights - Tyler Abott, S, 2-3, 2B; Sean Tonkin, S, 1-2, 2 RBI; Jake O'Dell, S, 1-1; Hodges, S, 1-3, 2 RBI; Alhaji Turay, A, 1-3, HR in 4th, Leber, A, 1-1, RBI. Records - Shorewood 22-5, Auburn 19-7.