On the last day of the regular season after the Lindbergh baseball team lost two games to Kennedy Catholic, and the Seamount title to Hazen, the Eagles could have packed it in.
“They knew how much that hurt, not just for the kids but this meant a lot to me,” said Lindbergh coach Benny Benavides. “I didn’t want to push that because it’s not about me. It’s about them. But as far as for Lindbergh baseball, it was a hard one to take.”
So the question became, how will this team respond? The Eagles answered emphatically, ending a strong district playoff run with a 5-3 win over Kingston Saturday. The win earned the team a berth into the state tournament and the school’s first ever district championship.
“I could see the team turn around for the most part in sub-districts,” Benavides said. “Once we got into districts it was like, OK let’s go play some baseball.”
The Eagles (17-5) edged Olympic 4-3 in the first round of districts May 10. Matt Stuart went 6.2 innings, with Cam Callen coming in for the last out and save. Callen and Bakari Davis each had two RBI in the game.
In the next round, Lindbergh trailed North Kitsap 6-4 in the final inning. The Eagles scored seven runs in the top of the seventh to beat North Kitsap May 13.
The team left little doubt in a 9-0 win against Port Angeles May 14. Stuart pitched a complete game, and allowed just two hits. Nikko Kis-Young collected three RBI.
The Eagles faced Kingston in the district title game May 14. Lindbergh was short-handed because senior prom was that night and its seniors weren’t available to play. The Eagles called up Hunter Trujillo and Jared Louie from junior varsity for the game. Trujillo earned the win and Louie went 3-4 at the plate. Callen collected another save with three innings of one-hit relief.
Lindbergh opens the regional round of the 2A state tournament Saturday against Centralia. The Eagles last went to state in 2002 and last won a state game in 1995 on the way to a second straight 3A state title.
The Eagles are gaining back some of the confidence that carried through most of the regular season. The team was atop the Seamount standings until the final day’s doubleheader loss to Kennedy.
“I knew there was something wrong that day,” Benavides said. “There was no enthusiasm, no fire.”
Now the team’s had a resurgence on offense, scoring 29 runs in four district games.
Lindbergh won state titles in 1994 and 1995, but Benavides didn’t think the district tournament existed back then. So, while the team has been to state many times since then, this year would be the team’s first district title.
