Kennedy Catholic Baseball Takes Their Revenge on Tahoma in Decisive Fashion

Bears and Lancers split season series; April 3 Game Recap.

by Jake Knight Burien-News Sports Reporter. Tuesday’s game between Kennedy Catholic High School and Tahoma High School was comparable to a chess match. Two aces, strategically maneuvering through the opposing lineup, taking pawns, knights, and rooks along the way, in the form of strikeouts before Adam Jay and the Tahoma Bears had the Kennedy Catholic Lancers at checkmate.The next day, the teams battled in an MMA heavyweight bout, trading kicks, doubles, punches, and home runs. Both teams came out of the gates swinging, but it was the Lancers who won this decision by a score of 11-5 to split the season series between the two teams.Wednesday’s game was played at Kennedy Catholic’s home ballpark, Faccone Field. Tahoma landed the first punch of the game in the top of the first inning. Kennedy Catholic starting pitcher Harvey Lieberman got off to a shaky start, to say the least, walking the first three batters in order. Jackson Walker laced a single to left field that was booted, allowing two runs to score before the first out of the game was recorded.The next batter, Sean Evans, hit a high fly ball to right that looked plenty deep enough to score the runner from third. With help from the runner stumbling off the base, right fielder Cam Mattingly connected with first baseman Adam Perry for a perfect relay to home to record outs one and two. A groundout to third was followed for the last out of the inning.It was all Kennedy Catholic from there.The Lancers immediately answered with a one-two combination of their own in the bottom of the first. In a carbon copy of the last game, Kaipo Matsushima and Coleman Hollabaugh checked in with one-out singles, but the middle of the order cashed in this time. With the bases loaded, Tahvo Latvala shot a single to right-center with two outs to score a couple and knot up the score.[caption id="attachment_15790" align="aligncenter" width="572"]

Tahvo Latvala's hit on 4/3/24 - Bears at Lancers.[/caption]Kennedy Catholic continued to do damage to Tahoma pitching in the following inning. Matsushima rocketed a double to left-center, driving in two runs before Hollabaugh unloaded on an 0-1 fastball, sending a towering shot over the right field fence for a two-run home run to cap a four-run second inning.Video of Coleman Hollabaugh's Homerun:[videopress S4KGfqc4]Lieberman settled in on the mound after a rough first inning. Including the flyout and groundout to end the first, the lefty sat down ten Bears hitters in a row, six via the strikeout. A two-out single in the fourth inning ended the streak, but Lieberman struck out the next hitter to set up another monstrous inning for his offense.

Harvey Lieberman pitching on 4/3/24 - Bears at Lancers.The bottom of the fourth represented the knockout blow. The Lancers batted through the order, brought ten men to the plate, tallied six hits, and plated five runs to stretch the lead to nine runs.That would be it for the Kennedy Catholic offense as they were unable to push any runs across the rest of the way. Tahoma pitchers were not kicking the ball around the field or giving them many free passes, only two in fact, but the Lancers exploded for 16 hits and 11 runs after a five-hit, one-run performance the night before.There were plenty of contributors in this one, but here are some key contributors. Tahvo Latvala collected four runs batted in with a single and a double. Coleman Hollabaugh went 3-3 with a walk, a home run, two runs batted in, and three runs scored. Kaipo Matsushima also drove in two with three runs scored, going 2-4 at the dish. Lastly, Cam Mattingly notched three hits and drove in a run in the lengthy fifth inning.However, Kennedy Catholic let Tahoma try to sneak back into the game with sloppy field play. The three walks previously mentioned in the first led to two runs, and three errors in the fifth led to three runs crossing the plate. The Lancers could have made this game a real laugher without five walks and four errors in the game.Latvala performed on both sides of the ball extremely well. He came in relief for Lieberman after errors chased him from the game. Latvala pitched the last 2.2 innings, striking out five, allowing only three batters to reach base, and holding the score at 11-5 to secure the win.[caption id="attachment_15791" align="aligncenter" width="621"]

Tahvo Latvala and Kaipo Matsushima celebrate Lancers win against the Tahoma Bears on 4/3/24.[/caption]Kennedy Catholic did not want to let both games against division opponent Tahoma slip from their grasp and it was obvious by their approach at the plate. After taking one of two against the Bears, the Lancers are now 8-3 overall with an even 2-2 district record. They get a weeklong break before hosting Bainbridge High School next Wednesday.

NEXT LANCERS GAME: Wed, April 10Bainbridge HS at Kennedy Catholic

In other local sports news:

Highline High School baseball recorded 14 hits and a whopping 26 walks on their way to a 30-1 victory on the road against Renton High School on Wednesday. Every Highline starter reached base at least once, with leadoff hitter Jo-Jo Barron reaching six times. Hawke Hansen was awarded the win on the mound, tossing three innings without allowing an earned run and striking out five batters.(images and video courtesy of Jake Knight with Burien-News)