Kangs Whip Sammamish 10-1, Play Tonight for KingCo 3A Title

BELLEVUE – Not even an eight-day layoff could faze Lake Washington in its KingCo 3A semifinal baseball game Thursday afternoon at Bannerwood Park.

Bob Cruikshank pitched a complete game and Zach Johnson homered twice to lead the Kangaroos to a 10-1 win over Sammamish. Lake Washington High now faces Mount Si High at 7 p.m. here Friday for the KingCo 3A championship.

“You could kind of tell in the first couple innings that we were going to get to them, and then Zach hit that big home run and we were off and running from there,” Lake Washington coach Derek Bingham said.

Although the second-seeded Kangaroos (11-9) had swept the season series, the sixth-seeded Totems looked the part of contender early on Thursday. Sammamish took a 1-0 lead in the first inning via a pair of hits, a walk and a hit batter.

But the 28-pitch first inning didn’t get Cruikshank down despite struggling with his off-speed stuff.

“It was a testament to him to get through that tough first inning,” said Bingham, who witnessed his ace get out of a bases-loaded jam. “In reality, he kept us in the game when we were slow offensively. Then once we got going, he just shut the door.”

But the University of San Francisco commit buckled down from there and allowed just two more hits. Of Cruikshank’s 84 pitches, 54 were for strikes.

“Once I settled in after that first inning, I felt comfortable the rest of the game,” he said.

The right-hander retired 10 of the final 11 batters.

“What you know about Bob is that he’s going to compete all the time,” Bingham said. “He had his best stuff going towards the end of the game and they really couldn’t touch him.”

The Kangaroos threatened in the second inning with three walks, but all three runners were stranded. They left the bases loaded again in the third, but not before building a 3-1 lead.

Johnson’s towering 2-run shot to right field preceded Kory Kohlwes’ RBI single.

In the fourth, Johnson’s gigantic 2-run blast again to right field landed near a side street for his fifth home run of the season. Sammamish starter Jacob West (7 walks, 6 hits in 3 1/3 innings) was pulled one batter later, giving way to Ryan Hashimoto.

After tacking on another run in the fifth – on Cruikshank’s fielder’s choice – and again stranding three runners, Lake Washington blew the game open in the sixth off relievers Tristan Cates and Conor Robertson.

A Chris Moore two-run double was followed by a passed ball, which scored Victor Mayorquin. In the next at-bat, Nick Johnson’s sacrifice fly provided the Kangaroos’ final run.

Moore (3-for-5, double), Zach Johnson, Stevie Semler, Spencer Jackson (triple), and Nori Shimizu all reached safely three times as the Kangaroos piled up 12 walks and nine hits.

“We did a really good job of waiting for our pitch today,” Bingham said. “We talked yesterday about ‘you’re going to have some pitches in your favor so just stay patient and don’t rush.’”

Lake Washington will go for its second KingCo championship in three seasons Friday night, but it would be just the fourth since 1984. A win would also mean a sixth berth to state in the past eight seasons.

It will be a re-match of Mount Si’s 2-1 home win on April 15.