The La Center Wildcats find themselves in very familiar territory.
Last season, the Wildcats fought all the way to losing to the state title team 5-4 against Bellevue Christian as the No. 2 seed out of the 1A Trico League.
This year, they will once again enter the postseason as the two spot out of the Trico League after losing 1-0 to the Seton Catholic Cougars on Tuesday, May 5, missing out on a league title opportunity the following game on Thursday, May 7, which resulted in a 9-1 loss.
“It’s the last week of league going into playoffs … You want to play in close competitive ball games so that you can be prepared and not be surprised when you get to districts and when you get to state,” La Center head coach Hunter Weiss said after the 1-0 loss. “I think that our guys just enjoy it. Like, we compete a lot in practice, and they just enjoy competitive environments. And yeah, that wasn’t the result we wanted today, but we told them, you know, we still have a lot of baseball ahead of us.”
However, Weiss knew his Wildcats could follow the same path as last year after the May 5 loss.
“We still get to host next week, and looking back at past years, like, some of our best teams finished second in league, second in districts,” Weiss said, “and then make a run. I told them to use it as fuel and don’t see it as failure.”
The 1-0 loss was not without positive takeaways. On one hand, it showed the Wildcats can stick around with tough competition. It also provided a massive confidence boost for starting pitcher Gunnar Shockelt.
Shockelt recorded all 21 outs on the mound for the Wildcats and held the Cougars to just one run.
“He’s just been a workhorse this year,” Weiss said of Shockelt. “He was one of our better pitchers last year, as well. But we told him this year, ‘Hey man, every time you start on Tuesdays, we’re going to have you go deep into the games.’ He’s taken on that role really well, and he’s wanted to pitch in every big game.”
Weiss said he has flipped around Shockelt’s mound appearance dates in order to take on bigger opponents throughout the season.
“He’s pretty much thrown a gem every time,” Weiss said. “I don’t think he’s thrown a game where he’s thrown less than four or five innings. So he’s just a workhorse.”
The Wildcats began their 1A District 4 baseball tournament journey hosting Elma High School on Monday, May 11, but results were unavailable at press time. A win would send La Center to a matchup against the winner of King’s Way versus Montesano. A loss sends La Center to a loser-out matchup against the loser of that game. Both outcomes are slated to be played on Tuesday, May 12, at 4 p.m., locations undetermined.
