Olympia turns away Puyallup in extra innings to claim 4A District 3/4 baseball championship - Athlon Sports Nation Skip to main content
Lincoln Berg interview after Olympia's district championship win over Puyallup
Lincoln Berg interview after Olympia's district championship win over Puyallup

Olympia turns away Puyallup in extra innings to claim 4A District 3/4 baseball championship

Bears beat Vikings for first time this season behind pitcher Lincoln Berg's seven strong innings
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KENT, Wash. — Olympia pitcher Lincoln Berg found himself in trouble more than once Saturday night against Puyallup.

But somehow, someway, Berg was able to find a way out of it, as the Bears took down the Vikings, 2-1, in eight innings for the district title.

Olympia got on the board in the top of the first inning with Berg coming around to score on a RBI double to right center off the bat of Trace Pruitt.

Puyallup tied the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the second on a Max Hemenway sacrifice fly that brought home catcher Kai Halstead.

The Vikings had a chance to take the lead in the third inning as Riley Sanoy led off the inning with a double. Sanoy eventually advanced to third and Noah Benedict worked a walk to put runners on the corners with nobody out.

It was just the beginning of Berg's magic on the mound, though. On a pickoff move to first, Berg caught Benedict in no man's land for the out. Sanoy tried to score from third on the play, but was also out on the basepaths.

Berg struck out Brayden Landry to end the inning.

"Tremendous character from (Berg)," Olympia coach Derek Weldon said. "We've had a lot of adversity as a program the last couple of years. I'm really proud of (Berg). He was his best."

And it all starts with confidence for Berg.

"I was just thinking, 'This batter is not better than me and I'm going to beat him and I'm going to do whatever it takes to beat him,'" Berg said.

For as good as Berg was on the mound, Puyallup pitcher Keenan Masters matched him.

Other than the lone run in the first inning, Masters spun a gem of his own, turning away hitter after hitter until the top of the eighth inning where he walked Berg, the leadoff batter.

A bunt single from Tyson Knowles and two wild pitches later, Berg crossed home for the go-ahead run.

"We knew from the start it was going to be a dogfight to beat them," Berg said.

Pruitt came in to pitch the bottom of the eighth inning for the Bears, striking out Jackson Copeland to end the game.

"We were only going to use (Pruitt) today for one inning if we had a chance to win the championship," Weldon said. "It kind of all came together."

Regardless of the outcome of the game, both Olympia and Puyallup had already clinched state berths.

Berg finished the game with seven innings pitched, giving up just one run on four hits while striking out six. Masters pitched seven-plus innings, giving up the two runs on four hits to go with seven strikeouts.

State tournament seeding will be done Sunday morning and released later that day.