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The La Conner High School baseball team bounced back from three straight heartbreaking, one-run, extra-inning road losses to post convincing wins at Quilcene and Darrington.
The Braves defeated Quilcene, a traditionally strong baseball program, by a 7-1 margin on April 17 and then trounced NW2B/1B rival Darrington 12-1 on April 19 to sweept the two-game season series.
La Conner thus improved to 5-5 overall and 2-4 in league action going into a scheduled April 23 home game with conference foe Mount Vernon Christian.
La Conner plays at Orcas Island at 4 p.m. April 25 and entertains Concrete in a rare doubleheader April 27 with the first game starting at 11 a.m.
Senior hurler Ivory Damien tamed Quilcene on two hits over seven innings. The Rangers manufactured their lone run in the second inning courtesy of a hit batter, stolen base, balk and the first of Quilcene’s two singles.
Trailing 1-0, the Braves took a 2-1 lead in the third on singles by Angus Poprycz, David Holt and Jackson.
The team added a run in the fourth on a single by Burks, who moved up on an error and scored on a wild pitch.
La Conner put Quilcene away with a six-hit attack and four runs in the pivotal fifth inning.
C.J. Edwards ignited the rally with a leadoff single. Charley Jackson followed with a drive to right field that was misplayed into a two-base error. After a flyout, Kenai Zimmerman, Logan Burks and Damien worked their way on base with walks. Zimmerman and Burks eventually scored.
The Braves dominated Darrington 48 hours later in a game called after five innings due to the 10-run mercy rule.
The Braves controlled the strike zone by drawing six walks. La Conner also had three hit batters and benefitted from four Logger errors.
Zimmerman and Burks shared mound duties for the victors, combining on a one-hit, five-strikeout performance.
Burks paced La Conner at the plate with a pair of singles. Zimmerman, Jackson, Holt, Nathan Bailey and Kaleb Otis each added safeties for the Braves.
On the softball diamond, Darrington recorded a 17-1 victory over the Lady Braves, who had lost 23-5 at Quilcene on April 17.
The Lady Braves play at 4 p.m. April 25 at Orcas Island before welcoming Concrete at 11 a.m. April 27 for a two-game set. La Conner swept Concrete a year ago in a pair of high scoring affairs.
The weekend doubleheaders with Concrete were slated to make up for the postponement of single baseball and softball games April 18.
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