Overbay goes yard as Tumwater knocks off Capital at Cheney Stadium

TACOMA — Luke Overbay waited patiently. 

He didn’t swing at all on his first at bat, earning a walk against Capital starter Max Hanson in the first inning. In the third inning, he waited until a 2-2 pitch to take his first hack, and he struck out swinging.

But on his third at bat in the fifth inning, Overbay knew his chance was coming. After fouling two pitches away, he got the perfect off-speed pitch from Hayden Deskus and cranked it to the Cheney Stadium left-field section aptly named the “Michelob Ultra Launch Pad” for a two-run homer. His mammoth shot helped Tumwater defeat Capital 8-4 Friday night at the Tacoma Rainiers’ ballpark for its sixth consecutive win.

The home run gave Overbay a sigh of relief, as well. Along with his 0-for-2 start at the plate, he also committed an error on an Isaac Linville grounder to right field in the second inning, beaming the ball well over the first baseman into the net behind home plate.

“This game is all mental. I wasn’t feeling good. On one of the first plays of the game, I threw the ball way over the guy’s head,” Overbay said with a laugh. “I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, what am I doing?’ I wasn’t feeling good, but my teammates were picking me up. My first base coach told me to believe in myself. On a 1-2 count, I’m surprised I barreled that one up.”

After Hanson worked two scoreless innings, including working out of a bases-loaded jam in the second, the Thunderbirds tagged him for a run in the third on a Liam Gustafson RBI single. 

With two outs and a runner at second base in the fourth inning, Adley Goebel hit a fly ball right at Capital right fielder Gerrod Clark, who dropped the ball, allowing a run to score. 

“We’ve got to make the routine plays,” Capital head coach Brian Shannon said. “We’re capable of making them. It’s just getting them more confident that they can do it at this level. When we’re training, they make the plays and do a good job and they work hard at it. And then we get in the game, and sometimes the moment gets big on us.”

Gustafson collected his second RBI of the night, this time delivering a sacrifice fly to left field to score Max Bunn. On the ensuing at bat, Overbay obliterated the 1-2 pitch to left field to give Tumwater a 5-0 lead. It won’t be the last time the University of Michigan commit will go yard at a big ballpark.

“I knew it was coming. The guy wasn’t throwing that hard,” Overbay said. “I just swung and let it fly.”

After Braeden Konrad pitched three shutout innings to start, the Thunderbirds’ bullpen of Jayden Stacy, Baylor Olson and Charlie Crawford had the Cougars swinging at air, combining for five strikeouts in three innings.

Jett Hopton hopped off the bench and ripped an RBI single to right field in the sixth inning and advanced to third base on another error by Capital, one of three on the night. Tumwater scored two more runs in the seventh, first on a wild pitch and second on a Bunn RBI single. 

Looking to close out a shutout, Kyson Sayamnet ran into trouble in the bottom of the seventh as Capital’s bats awoke. Sayamnet walked the bases loaded, and Cash VanZandt stepped up to the plate and punched a bases-clearing double to left field on the first pitch he saw. Hanson added a two-out RBI single, but Capital’s comeback hopes stopped short as Linville grounded into a fielder’s choice.

Despite the loss, Shannon was proud of how his team continued to fight when a shutout seemed inevitable.

“One positive from this young group so far this year is that they haven’t really rolled over. Even when we’re down, they hang in there and keep battling,” Shannon said. “We just want to play cleaner baseball and start getting some more wins. I think that’s gonna come.”

Overbay said Tumwater’s energy continues to improve since the 1-2 start that saw the T-Birds fall 5-2 to Olympia and 5-1 to Columbia River in mid-March. The bats have also continued to thrive, as the T-Birds have averaged 10 runs per game over the six-game winning streak.

“Our energy is just so much better than it was in those first three games. We’re such a different team,” Overbay said. “I think if we don’t change our mindset and our energy, we don’t win the last six games that we’ve played.”

Tumwater (7-2, 3-0 EvCo) will resume EvCo play with a two-game set against Aberdeen (5-1, 3-0 EvCo) April 14 and April 15. Capital (4-7, 4-4 Puget Sound League) takes on Timberline (5-5, 5-4 Puget Sound League) for a two-game set, first on the road April 14 before hosting the Blazers April 15.