The Mount Si High School baseball team has had to fight hard throughout the season to maintain its spot in the postseason discussion in a very wild Kingco 3A.

The Wildcats may be in for their biggest fight yet, just to get in, after two losses last week.

It was a tough day for the ‘Cats at Issaquah Monday, April 21, as they fell to the Eagles 6-4. Sophomore pitcher Frank Tassara, who no-hit the Eagles earlier this season at Mount Si, was unable to find the magic a second time, as he walked four Issaquah hitters in a row in the bottom of the fourth. Those walks helped Issaquah climb back into the game after the Wildcats scored four runs in the top of the frame.

Taylor Campbell had two hits and two runs batted in for the Wildcats to lead them offensively.

Mount Si came home last Wednesday, April 23, and hosted Sammamish, as the Wildcats welcomed back their former longtime head coach, Gary McGregor. He served as the Totems’ first base coach for the contest, and is an assistant this season to Sammamish head coach Dan Desmond. The game became less about McGregor’s return than it was about another name that should be familiar to Wildcat fans: Minice.

Mount Si softball supporters remember the dominating efforts that then-Sammamish softball star pitcher Sarah Minice delivered against the Wildcats in both 2006 and 2007. Wildcat baseball followers saw her younger brother, Totem junior Will, deliver that same kind of performance on the mound last Wednesday. Will Minice two-hit Mount Si through five innings before giving up three Wildcat runs in the sixth, only walking one and striking out four through that sequence. Minice’s bat also delivered in a big way, as he went 3-for-4 with a double, two runs scored and two runs batted in as Sammamish won 7-3.

“They hit the ball real well today,” said Mount Si coach Chaz Carr. “They got extra base hits, too. I wasn’t just seeing eye singles; they hit doubles, they hit a home run. They came to play.”

The home run was hit by Sammamish’s Chris Gott; the two-run shot over the left field fence keyed a five-run Totem second inning that put things away early, despite the best efforts of Wildcat reliever Justin Poth, who shut down the Sammamish bats following that big inning.

Mount Si’s three sixth-inning runs happened as the result of four straight singles, by Danny Cavanaugh, Tassara (who also went 3-for-4 and was responsible for the two Mount Si hits prior to the sixth-inning onslaught), Tim Proudfoot and Blake Hepner. A Campbell groundout scored Tassara; a Zack Robinson groundout scored Proudfoot. Hepner’s single scored Cavanaugh.

Freshman outfielder Rob Lane played his first varsity game, and reached base all three times he batted:twice on walks, another on a hit by pitch. He also made a spectacular catch in left field in the sixth.

Lane is ready to contribute.

“I just tried to go out and give it my all and tried to win one for Mount Si,” he said.

The Wildcats’ game Friday, April 25, against Bellevue was postponed due to a tragedy involving the Wolverine program. One of their former players was killed in an early morning accident in Seattle.

That game will be made up this week, as Mount Si closes out the regular season with three games, all against Bellevue schools. They hosted the Wolverines and Newport earlier this week, and travel to Bannerwood Park to face Interlake today. Mount Si likely needs to sweep all three games to make the postseason.