Redmond hosted Bothell Monday night at Hartman Park. Timely hitting, big plays in the field and 6 gritty innings from Senior Michael Kimborowicz helped the Mustangs earn the win in a back and forth affair.
The Cougars jumped out to an early lead in the 2nd inning when they drew a two out walk and then doubled to put them up 1-0.
Redmond fired back in the third when Aaron Beltran reached on an error and advanced to second on the same play. Andrew McBain plated Beltran with a two out pop up single that dropped in no-mans-land to tie the game 1-1.
Bothell jumped ahead again in the 4th when Kimborowicz surrendered a 2 run HR to make the score 3-1.
The lead didn’t last long for Bothell. Ethan Tung was hit by a pitch to lead off the bottom half of the 4th inning and Jon Holmen’s two-out ground ball single put runners on first and second. A balk moved the runners to second and third. Kai Drotz followed with a line-drive double to left-center that plated Tung and Holmen and tied the game 3-3. Aaron Beltran reached on a throwing error that brought Drotz around to score and put the Stangs up 4-3.
Kimborowicz worked out of a tough jam in the 5th when Bothell’s first two batter’s reached on an error. He finally left the game after facing one batter in the 7th. His strongest outing of the year. He put in 6+ innings of work and recorded 7K, 1BB, 5 hits and most importantly a 4-3 lead.
The Mustang defense came up big in the 7th to preserve the win. Cameron Bradford took the mound with a runner on first. In his first batter Bradford came up just short, diving for popped up bunted ball, but his quick throw to second base got the runner for the first out of the inning. A wild pitch moved the tying run to second base. The next batter singled to center fielder Kai Drotz. The Bothell runner at second attempted to score on the play. But, the relay throw from shortstop Austin Paul to the plate was perfect and catcher Liam Curran put down the tag on a close play at the plate for the second out of the inning. The game ended when a Bothell runner tried to steal third on a walk but was thrown out by Curran to third baseman Josh Roof.
Monday night’s victory improved Redmond’s record to 3-1 in KingCo play and 4-2 overall. The Mustangs travel to Skyline to face the Spartans Wednesday at 4:00.