EVERETT — Earlier this month, Shorewood edged Lynnwood in the two teams’ third game of the year to clinch the Wesco 3A South league title.
In game No. 4, which happened to be the district championship game, the Royals got a little revenge.
Lucas Jungmann threw a two-hitter to earn his second win of the season against the Thunderbirds as Lynnwood topped Shorewood 3-0 in the 3A District 1 championship game Saturday evening at Everett Memorial Stadium.
“They stole Wesco from us, so this is a redemption game for us to come out and prove that we can play, too,” Jungmann said. “Shorewood’s a great team. We’ll see them at state, hopefully, in the future.”
The win clinched the Royals’ first district championship since 1991, according to Lynnwood athletic director Rob McMains. Both Shorewood and Lynnwood advance to next weekend’s regional round of the state tournament.
Lynnwood last got to state in 2009.
“It feels awesome,” said first-year Royals coach Fraser Dizard. “It feels really good. A lot of emotion, a lot of adrenaline. We’ve worked really hard this year. It’s fun to see these kids succeed. They’ve put a lot of effort in and to see them have success is a lot of fun. … It’s been awhile (since Lynnwood won a district championship) but I’m not worried about that, the history. This is my first year. That’s what I expected to do.”
Just two seasons removed from going 3-16, Lynnwood went from going 0-2 at last year’s district tournament to 3-0 and champs this time around.
“We only lost one player from last season and last year we felt like we should have beat Lake Stevens in that first (district) game and ended up losing in the bottom of the ninth,” Jungmann said. “We’ve been talking about state since that last game so it feels good to make our goals and hopefully we can keep going.”
Despite finishing winless in the postseason last year, Dizard thinks that experience was important for the Lynnwood players.
“Last year really helped,” Dizard said. “… I think last year, being in the playoffs, just the experience and taste of it, for these guys, was huge. They knew what it was all about. They came into this year saying, ‘We don’t want to just make it to playoffs, we want to win once we get to playoffs.’”
Jungmann, who threw two innings of relief in his first victory against Shorewood this season, was key to Lynnwood’s latest playoff victory. After putting up two hits in the first inning the Thunderbirds didn’t get another one the rest of the way.
The senior finished the game with five strikeouts.
“I got more comfortable as the game went on,” Jungmann said. “At first, with all the fans in the stadium it was kind of nerve-wracking and there were some pregame jitters. But as the game progressed — and after the first (inning) — it was just getting first-pitch strikes and building on that.”
Dizard was looking to his senior to lead his team in one of the Royals’ biggest games of the year.
“He did a great job today,” Dizard said. “His last three starts he’s been pretty much unhittable. A lot of first-pitch strikes, which is huge. He was throwing his breaking ball for strikes all day long. It makes it tough to hit when the other team doesn’t know what pitch is coming. He battled. He’s a senior. I expected him to come out and do well.”
Both teams move on to next week’s regional round, with Lynnwood facing the District 3/4 No. 4 team at 1 p.m. at Dream Field in Mount Vernon. Shorewood will play the District 2 No. 1 at 1 p.m. at Bannerwood Park (Bellevue).
The winners of the regional games move on to the 3A state quarterfinals, which take place at the same locations later Saturday afternoon.
“We came out to win but we’ll flush it and go to regionals and do the best we can,” said Shorewood head coach Wyatt Tonkin. “It just wasn’t our day at the plate. We hit a couple balls hard we just couldn’t get them to fall.
“We’ll be all right. They’re pretty resilient. Honestly, we don’t care which (team) we play. You still have to play against the best. I’m not worried.”
Arthur Pate and Harrison Jacobs recorded the two hits for Shorewood (19-4 overall) in the bottom of the first. An error and a walk gave the Thunderbirds two more base runners in the second, but they couldn’t get one across home plate.
Half of the Thunderbirds’ four losses this season have come against Lynnwood.
“I told the guys, ‘Hang in there,’” Tonkin said. “Any loss is tough but we just have to find a way to get a couple of balls to drop.”
Jungmann was 2-for-3 with a run scored at the plate and Jared Whitman added a two-out RBI double in the second inning to get the scoring started for Lynnwood (17-6).
“They’re a lot of fun,” Tonkin said of Shorewood-Lynnwood matchups. “I’m kind of glad (the season series) ended 2-2. We got the league title and they got the district. I’m glad we’ve got two quality teams that are going to represent the district.”
“We’ve had some great games against (Shorewood),” Dizard added. “They’re a really good team, probably one of the best teams in the state. They’ve got some really good players and we know when we play them it’s always going to be a really close game. It’s kind of payback today. They took the league championship from us in kind of a heartbreaking fashion. It was good to get one back from them today.
“We’re definitely fired up. We want to keep winning. It’ll be an exciting week.”
At Everett Memorial Stadium.
Lynnwood 010 020 0 — 3 6 2
Shorewood 000 000 0 — 0 2 0
Lucas Jungmann and Brady Girgus. Cole McKisson, Ian Oxnevad (5) and Nick Edney. WP–Jungmann. LP–McKisson. 2B–Jared Whitman (L). Records–Lynnwood 17-6 overall. Shorewood 19-4.
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