By ELI THOMAS
THE CHRONICLE
THURSTON – Thurston head coach Dennis Minium has been emphasizing how important the return of sophomore outfielder Levi Woodman was in allowing the Colts to reach their potential.
Woodman returned from a lateral meniscus tear on April 28, but said Tuesday was the first time he felt fully healthy.
In the bottom of the fourth inning of Tuesday’s first-round state playoff game, Woodman led off for the Colts. On the first pitch, Woodman smashed a ball over the left field wall to push his team’s lead to 3-0. Woodman drew a walk to score a run and launched a double off the base of the left field wall in his other two at-bats.
Minium’s face lit up postgame when talking about his young right fielder.
“It was awesome,” Minimum said. “I’ve been waiting for that all year from him. I’m glad it happened today. He’s a gamer. He’s a bulldog, he wants to be out there. He’ll play at 80%, he’ll play at 75%. He’s been itching all year … but today, he looked like a different kid.”
The Colts added one more insurance run, but it looked like senior pitcher Grady Saunders had no need for it through the first six innings. There were no signs of life from the Lava Bears, and Saunders had a no-hitter on 70 pitches through the first six innings.
An infield single, followed by a triple and another infield single scored two runs. Saunders clamped down after that point, striking out the final two batters to give him 10 on the day and take his team to the next round. Saunders said it was important to him to finish the job in what was likely his final start at Flaten Field.
“I’ve pitched in a lot of playoff games, this was probably the last one here, unless things happen, but it meant a lot to finish it out,” Saunders said.
It was an up-and-down game from the Colts offense. Fantastic plate discipline allowed for two runs to score in the first inning despite no hits. Senior captain Jackson Lane drew the free pass that plated the first run after facing a 3-2 count, with the bases loaded and two outs.
“Jackson works a lot from the two-strike approach. He’s always watching pitches around the plate. His discipline is really, really good,” Minimum said.
The struggles came on the basepaths. In the second and third innings, baserunning mistakes spoiled situations where the Colts had runners in scoring position, and then in the fifth inning, what should’ve been a sacrifice fly and another run resulted in nothing because of a lack of awareness to tag up.
Minium had his team raise hands for who had played in a state playoff game, and only Brock Johnson, Saunders, and Sheldon transfer Parker Edwards raised their hands, so the nerves may have contributed to the mental mistakes.
Friday, the Colts face top-seeded Corvallis on the road. Likely either Edwards or sophomore Brody Corgain, both of whom have been solid this year, will start for the Colts and hope to slow down Class 5A’s top-scoring offense. If Saunders had a cleaner final inning, he may have been an option, but the Colts pitching depth will have to get them by for at least one round.
