Olympia’s bats come alive, ace Rylan Haider goes distance to beat Richland in 4A state semifinals

Washington State commit Rylan Haider throws a complete game, Bears' bats come alive in the third inning to return to championship for second time in a row

PASCO, Wash. — In 2019, the last time the WIAA state baseball playoffs were held, Olympia reached the state championship on a walk-off double.

On Friday, it booked a return trip three years in the making.

The top-seeded Bears rode hot hitting and a complete game from pitcher Rylan Haider to beat Richland 7-3 in the Class 4A WIAA state semifinals at Gesa Stadium, setting up a showdown with 4A South Puget Sound League foe Puyallup on Saturday at 4 p.m.

Richland will play Skyline for third place Saturday at 9:30 a.m.

Both teams were hitless through two innings as both aces — Olympia's Rylan Haider and Richland's Cameron Kallsen — threw fastballs touching 90 miles an hour.

But Olympia's bats broke through with a four-run spurt in the third and three more in the fourth.

(MORE: Washington high school baseball playoff scores, brackets: 2022 state semifinal live updates, results, how to watch)

Olympia junior first baseman Evan Nicol hit an RBI single in the top of the third. On the next at-bat, Taber Fast, a Texas Tech pitching commit, sent a two-RBI double deep into center field.

Bears coach Derek Weldon praised his team's hitting prowess and its ability to swing big with a two-strike count.

“I love hitting with two strikes,” Nicol said. “Getting up, finding my pitch and if I get a pitch to drive, I try to do it.”

Said Weldon: "Our guys are savages in the box."

Down 4-0 in the bottom of the third, Richland senior Deacon Boyce narrowly reached first after a hard ground ball to the short stop. He stole two bases on wild pitch, then a single drove him home to put the Bombers on the board at 4-1.

A hard line drive down the third base line by senior Chris Daniels screamed past the diving reach of third baseman Gabe Downing and scored senior Joey Weissenfels to make it 4-2. With the bases loaded, the Bombers pulled within 4-3 on a fielder’s choice single.

The Bears scored twice quickly to open in the fourth. In need of a pitching boost, the Bombers brought in junior Oregon State commit Spencer Green. He struck out Fast and allowed one more run to get the Bombers out of the inning down 7-3.

"I was telling the guys, I trust them 99 out of 100 times to get the job done and we just didn’t have it today," Richland coach Grant Richardson said."Didn’t catch a break. Offensively, we tried making a run and even hit a lot of balls hard at the end of the game, but right at guys and that’s just how the game works."

In the bottom of the seventh, Olympia started to get nervous. After collecting three straight outs in the sixth, capped by a strikeout, Haider appeared poised to go the distance. 

But he was nearing the 105 pitch count limit and Richland’s bats were connecting.

Nicol secured the last two outs for him at first base, first on a diving snag-and-tag and then an easy grounder to first to end the game. 

Haider, a Washington State commit, went the distance, striking out six with seven hits, two earned runs and no walks allowed in seven innings.

“Top to bottom, we are just stacked with dudes,” Nicol said.

In 2019, the Bears upset top-seeded Skyline in the regional round then beat Issaquah on a walk-off double to reach the title game, where it lost to Moses Lake.

—

OLYMPIA 7, RICHLAND 3

BEARS 004 300 0 — 7 7 0

BOMBERS 003 000 0 — 3 8 0

—

Photo by Andy Buhler

--Andy Buhler; @AndyBuhler.