Controversial call at plate upends Emerald Ridge

Emerald Ridge High School baseball coach Larry Marshall thought the player was out.

Snohomish coach Kim Hammons said his player was safe.

Derrek Johnson said he never felt Jaguars catcher Dominik Zombik tag him after spinning back and dropping to his stomach about eight feet from the plate. Zombik said that he did.

The home plate umpire called safe, and that ultimately proved the difference.

Snohomish’s next batter drove in one more run on an infield single in that bottom of the fifth inning. And instead of Emerald Ridge escaping with the third out, Snohomish took a 2-0 lead it would hold from then on to end the Jaguars season in the first round of the 4A state tournament on Sunday at Heidelberg Park.

“The bottom line was I saw the tag,” Marshall said. “I’m on that stuff. I make sure our guys are trained that if it’s a tag, I don’t care, go back and get him. We don’t do fake tags. We got him.”

“I didn’t feel anything,” Johnson said.

Johnson was dead-to-rights when Emerald Ridge pitcher Chad Gideon got him in a rundown on his pickoff attempt to third base with two outs.

Third baseman DeShawn Johnson ran the Snohomish center fielder toward home plate before tossing to Zombik. Derrek Johnson pulled a whirling move as Zombik went for the tag before scooting to home plate.

The umpire called Johnson safe.

Hammons said it’s like Johnson was made to get out of pickles — he does frequently in practice. Johnson said it’s why the team calls him “DJ Wiggles”.

“We practice rundowns Mondays and Thursdays on non-game days,” Hammons said. “I have to kick him out of the drill because our guys cannot tag him.

“This has been all year. That was not a one-time deal. It was like he was made to have this move to get away from the tag and it was absolutely phenomenal.”

And Snohomish pitcher Jake Mulholland, an Oregon State University-bound pitcher, continued to shut Emerald Ridge down from there, throwing all seven innings with no runs, four hits and six strikeouts.

“They knew that we are a first-pitch fastball team,” Marshall said. “Eight of the first 10 batters he threw breaking pitches, so we had to adjust. He threw well and came up with big pitches when they needed big pitches.”

On the other side, ER senior pitcher Chad Gideon, who will head to Pacific Lutheran University next year, allowed just the two runs, which could have easily been no runs, in six innings.

“He fights and he fights and he fights,” Marshall said. “He’s been with us for four years and I love every bit about him.

“I told him the other day that I’m going to hold this job down until he graduates. He wants to be a teacher and a coach and he’s going to be the best. I’m going to retire when he’s ready to take over. There’s not too many guys better than him.”

“I’ve been playing with these guys for four years and it’s been an awesome time,” Gideon said. “I didn’t want that to end and I wanted to play next weekend and I wanted to go on past that. It sucks it had to end today.”

Woodinville 3, Federal Way 2: Calvin Turchin waited and watched as the baseball kept rolling and rolling fair down the third base line, but somehow not foul.

That quirky play loaded the bases for the Falcons in the top of the fourth inning. Turchin struck out the next batter for the second out, but then Chris Wilson blooped a single that hit off Federal Way shortstop Tyler Praven’s glove and landed between he and left fielder Dawson Bakker.

The 3-2 lead was enough to end Federal Way’s season against Woodinville in the first round of the 4A state tournament at Heidelberg Park.

“A couple of bounces here and there and we might be in the quarterfinals or semifinals,” Federal Way senior second baseman Ben Koler said.

The Eagles (20-5) had the tying run on base each of the next three innings, but weren’t able to score.

CLASS 3A

Sumner 5, Columbia River 2: There’s just one problem.

How will Spartans coach Casey Adcox break the news to his 11-year-old son that they won’t be able to go to the Seattle Mariners game on Friday?

Adcox and his Sumner squad will instead be in Pasco for the 3A state semifinals at Gesa Stadium.

The Spartans jumped on the Chieftains for three runs in the first three innings and had eight batters with at least one hit at Bannerwood Park in Bellevue to win their second game of the day.

Sumner pitcher Preston Fullington allowed one hit in a 3-1 win over Eastside Catholic in the first round opener.

So much for those Mariners tickets Adcox’s son, Brayden, won in a neighborhood Easter egg hunt.

“It’s pretty awesome,” Adcox said. “Honestly, though, my biggest problem right now is figuring out how I’m going to tell (Brayden) we aren’t going to be able to go to the Mariners game for fireworks night. … When they make the playoffs, I’ll make it up to him and we’ll go to that.”

Kennewick 4, Bonney Lake 3 (8 innings): The Panthers finally broke a scoreless tie with three runs in the top of the seventh inning and needed three outs to seal a trip to the state quarterfinals.

But Kennewick answered back with three runs in the bottom of the seventh, then TJ Rea hit an RBI single in the bottom the eighth to end Bonney Lake’s season in the first round of the 3A state tournament at Curtis High School.

Zac Horne, the 3A SPSL MVP, pitched seven innings for the Panthers, striking out seven and allowing three runs — one earned.

Matthew Gretler was 1 for 3 with a double and a run scored and Robby Pogue was 2 for 4 at the plate.

Lake Washington 9, Enumclaw 2: Austin Hood hit a home run for the Hornets to lead off the fifth inning.

But by that time the Kangaroos had pushed their lead to seven runs and went on from there to end Enumclaw’s season in the first round.

The Hornets season ended, but it was their first appearance in the state tournament since 2011 and came despite finishing fourth in the 3A SPSL standings. rr

This story was originally published May 22, 2016 at 11:05 PM with the headline "Controversial call at plate upends Emerald Ridge."