It was Milo Tolbert’s day to shine for the Olympia baseball team, as the senior drove in a walk-off single in the eighth inning to lead the Bears to a 3-2 win over Rogers Tuesday.
Tolbert finished 3 for 4 with two RBIs. Olympia snaps a two-game skid with the victory in the regular season finale, which also served as senior night for the Bears.
After both teams struggled to move runners around in the first two innings, Olympia broke through in the third, as Travis Kunkel sacrificed to bring home Noah Miller. Rogers responded with a sacrifice of its own in the fourth before Tolbert gave the Bears the lead on an RBI single in the bottom of the fourth.
Rogers strung together two hits in the top of the seventh inning to tie the game at 2-2, with an RBI single from Cole Henkel serving as the game-tying knock.
Olympia opened the bottom of the eighth with walks by Brayden Cheeka and Landyn Keister. Tolbert stepped up and grounded a 1-0 pitch to left field to score Cheeka for the winning run.
Peyton Crass pitched five strong innings as the starter, striking out seven while allowing just one run on three hits and one walk. Kunkel and Miller were efficient out of the bullpen, as well.
“Crass, Kunk and Miller gave us great innings on the mound. Milo had a heck of a day offensively, and the walk-off capped it off,” Olympia head coach Derek Weldon said. “We have some areas we have to go to work on. We are looking forward to a great week of practice leading up to the league tourney.”
Olympia finishes the regular season at 16-5 and 12-4 in the South Puget Sound League, good for third in the league behind Sumner and Emerald Ridge. Next up for the Bears is the SPSL Tournament, beginning Tuesday, May 5 at Emerald Ridge (18-3, 13-3 SPSL) for a spot in the title game against either Graham-Kapowsin or Sumner. Olympia lost to Emerald Ridge 4-0 on April 24 in the only meeting between the two teams.
