Needing a sweep of Central Kitsap to keep its postseason hopes alive, the young Yelm High School baseball team’s playoff hopes ended as the Cougars swept the Tornados in the two-game series.
The Cougars defeated the Tornados, 10-2, on Tuesday, April 23, at Central Kitsap High School. In the series finale, the Cougars beat the Tornados, 5-3, at YHS.
“The first game was extremely frustrating. We gave up too many freebies and had bad effort on a lot of plays,” Yelm’s head coach Dakota Hill said. “The boys came back the second day and had much better attitude and effort, threw more strikes and competed, made some uncharacteristic errors, but [I] loved what I saw that day.”
Following the series sweep and entering the final week of the season, Hill said his message to the team was to enjoy each other and the game.
“This is the release from the real world. Missing playoffs sucks, it really does,” Hill said. “But the biggest thing is that we improve each year. It would be awesome to send this group of seniors off on some wins.”
The Tornados will conclude its season with a series against South Sound Conference opponent River Ridge. Yelm was set to travel to Lacey for a road matchup with the Hawks, but results were not available at press time.
The Tornados celebrated senior day on Wednesday, May 1. The contest against the Hawks was not available before press time.
Hill said the Tornados can finish the 2024 season on a high note by quoting legendary NFL figure Al Davis, stating “just win, baby.”
“Finishing on a high note to send the boys off with momentum into offseason workouts is huge, Hill added. “We need to get those this week.”
With the conclusion of Yelm’s baseball season approaching, Hill said activity will be kept light as his athletes will either participate on their summer baseball team or prepare for other sports.
“Ideally, I would like to have some open fields during the summer to keep the boys together and keep tabs on them,” Hill said. “Once we hit the fall season, we will be in the weight room big time, to not only build that physical strength, but that mental strength that gets us over the hump in those tight games.”
Prior to entering the series with the River Ridge Hawks, Yelm had an overall record of 5-13, 3-9 in the SSC. The Tornados have already surpassed their conference win total from the 2023 season and can match or surpass their overall record from the previous season with a win or sweep against the Hawks.
