Led by Aiden DePaula, the Ballard Beavers topped the O’Dea Fighting Irish 4-2 to send themselves to the Metro League championship as well as the 3A WA State Tournament. There, they’ll be met by the West Seattle Wildcats, fresh off an 8-2 win over the Eastside Catholic Crusaders — thanks in large part to Seth Rutman’s excellent 6 innings on the mound and Lukas Cheha’s 3-3 day at the plate. The two squads earned four days rest and will face off at Steve Cox this Saturday, May 17th at 4PM.
Whether it’s on the football field, the basketball court, or the baseball diamond, the O’Dea Fighting Irish and Eastside Catholic Crusaders always seem to find each other in the postseason. The two historically strong programs will square up this Wednesday to see who can book their ticket to the 3A WA State Tournament. The loser will be forced to continue to battle it out for their spot at state in the Metro League loser’s bracket.
Ballard 4-2 O’Dea
After missing out on state in 2024, O’Dea will be eager to return to the action this time around. On Monday, the Irish had the tall order of beating a strong Ballard team in order to advance to the Metro League Championship. Despite taking a 2-0 lead early in the game, Beavers starter Aiden DePaula (Skagit Valley commit) settled in and made life difficult for the Irish.
But DePaula wasn’t content only helping his team to victory from the mound, the senior righty smashed a solo HR to kickstart the Beavers push to get back in the game. DePaula then settled in on the mound and worked to keep the Irish off the board for the rest of the game, thanks in part to Fischer Witt‘s 3-strikeout, 7th-inning close.
The Irish will now look toward the Crusaders on Wednesday, knowing that a win against them will secure a berth at state and a loss will mean they face the winner of Seattle Prep and Roosevelt (May 14 at 3:30PM).
West Seattle 8-2 Eastside Catholic
Despite losing 2-5 to the Crusaders at the end of April, the Panthers flipped the result this time around thanks to Seth Rutman‘s complete game and a healthy outpouring of offense, recording an 8-2 win and guaranteeing themselves a spot at state.
The Panthers jumped out to a 2-0 lead thanks to first-inning Sacha Ninberg RBI and third-inning solo HR from Lukas Cheha, but the Crusaders’ senior Will Crain tallied a RBI single before freshman Hudson Schock was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to bring it back to 2-2 heading into the 4th inning.
But from there, it was all West Seattle. Cheha dominated at the plate, going 3-3 and creating all sorts of problems for the Crusaders pitching staff.
West Seattle’s Rutman got the start for the Panthers and ended up closing it all out to seal the victory. Other than the two runs in the bottom of the third, the righty tightened up and blanked the Crusaders for six innings.
The last time West Seattle played Ballard, the Beavers took home a convincing 5-0 victory. But just as they overturned their earlier loss against the Crusaders, the Panthers will look to exact revenge this Saturday.
The Crusaders will lick their wounds and get back in action this Wednesday at the Southwest Athletic Complex. Their game against O’Dea gets underway at 4PM.
