The Whidbey Crabs followed up their third-place finish at the Memorial Tournament with two baseball doubleheader sweeps.
On Saturday, the Crabs won two close games against the Terrace Rangers, 5-4 and 7-5.
Hitting rallies prevailed on Sunday as the Crabs battered Bothell 14 -4 and 14-7.
In the opener on Saturday, June 4, the Crabs battled the Rangers to a 3-3 tie at the end of seven innings.
In extra innings they tied at 4-4 in the eighth.
With the scored tied in the bottom of the ninth, Jordan Henriot lofted a fly ball over a drawn-in defense to win 5-4. He had two hits and three RBIs in the contest. Houston Schmutz and Elijah Nichols added two hits. Mo Hamsa picked up the win as the pitcher.
Hamsa and Trent Fallon had two hits to lead the Crabs in the second game. Schmutz and Kohl Hunter pitched well before giving way to Hamsa, who finished with four strikeouts in the final two frames.
On Sunday, June 5, the Crabs tallied eight runs in the first two innings and cruised to a 14-4 victory against Bothell.
Peter Jacobs went 4-for-4 and scored four RBIs. Nichols, Hamsa and Schmutz added two hits each.
In the final game, Bothell took an early 4-0 lead before the Crabs rallied in the third inning.
Bothell tied in the fourth inning, but could not stop the Crabs’ hitting, which led to a 14-7 win.
Nichols and Hamsa led the way with three hits each, and were followed by Jacobs, Ricky Muzzy, Hunter and Piehler with two hits each. Parker Collins started the game and was relieved by Jacobs for two innings. Hamsa continued his overpowering pitching by shutting out Bothell in the final two frames.
In earlier action, the Crabs finished in third place at the MTYAA Memorial Tournament in Mountlake Terrace during Memorial Day weekend.
Competing with five MTYAA league rivals and seven of the top teams in the region, the Crabs compiled a tournament record of 4-1, falling in the semifinals to the undefeated Bothell Warriors.
The Crabs had two wins on May 28 taking the rubber match with the Terrace Ravens 12-3 in the opener, and followed up with a 13-1 victory over the West Seattle Diamondbacks.
The Crabs hit better than .500 for the two games led by Hamsa with a 5-for-5 performance.
On May 29, the Crabs matched up against a highly-rated Woodinville team.
Trailing 3-0 in the fifth inning, Whidbey scored five runs to take the lead. Hamsa replaced Hunter on the mound and for the final three innings to preserve an 8-6 win and a number three seed for the championship round.
Matched against the Mountlake Terrace Sox, the Crabs combined clutch hitting and effective pitching to cruise to an 11-4 victory.
Schmutz pitched four innings and was supported by two innings of relief from Hunter before Jacobs closed the game.
The championship run ended in the final game when Bothell beat Whidbey 9-1.
The Crabs are 17-6 with the Mountlake Terrace Youth Athletic Association Tournament next week in Mountlake Terrace as the top seed.
The season finale is Sunday, June 19 with a doubleheader against the MTYAA Thunder at South Whidbey Community Park.
