By Kyle Wannen
For DigitalSports.com

In their regional final game against Whitman, Quince Orchard set the tone early that their defense was prepared to back up senior pitcher Mike Ryan.

Thanks to stellar defense and great pitching from Ryan, the Cougars jumped out to an early 6-0 lead and held on for a 7-2 victory over the Vikings.

"We've been playing good defense all year and that's basically what's been getting us along through the year," shortstop Tyler Ewing said. "Pitching's been great, we get a lot of ground balls and just try to stay in front of it, make the plays, do as much as we can."

"I'm confident especially with the defense we got behind us," Ryan said. "That's a very good hitting team today and not many strikeouts. Not much I did. The defense really held it down."

The first batter of the game for Whitman, shortstop Jesse Mates, laced a line-drive into the left center gap but Quince Orchard center fielder Anthony Howard made a incredible diving catch to rob Mates of a leadoff hit. All of Quince Orchard's outfield covered a lot of ground and robbed a number of potential hits for Whitman.

In the third inning, with runners on second and first with one out, Ryan got Whitman center fielder Max Hilbert to ground the ball right to Ewing who turned a quick 6-3 double play to end the threat and the inning.

"They had a lot of hits but luckily we didn't put too many guys on base where they could drive runs in so our pitching did a great job and our defense as well," Cougars coach Jason Gasaway said.

Ryan finished the game with a complete-game effort and gave up only two runs in the fifth inning. He also struck out two and walked none. Ryan was responsible for only one loss this entire season.

"Every time he comes out to pitch we're going to have a good chance to win the game," Gasaway said. "He keeps the ball down, he's got a lot of movement."

Quince Orchard struck early against Whitman with two runs in the first and four runs in the second. Catcher Peter Bowles scored on a error in the first inning and then Ryan scored on a sacrifice fly from Howard two batters later. In the next inning with two outs, Ryan drove in two runs with a double and then first baseman Danny Mars drove in two runs with a single.

"We kind of had a different approach at the plate than the last time we faced these guys," Ryan said. "We come out in hard-hitting counts and just attacked the ball and it paid off."

"We were pretty pumped to be back in this position," Gasaway said. "We've been playing pretty well and we just came out aggressive. We had a great inning there early scoring a couple runs with two outs."

The first time these two teams played, the game went to ten innings with the Cougars scoring two runs in the bottom of the tenth to win the game 3-2. Whitman coach Joe Cassidy was a little surprised at the outcome after the game.

"It was the same two kids pitching," Cassidy said. You figured it was going to be a close game. Maybe 2-1, 3-1, but you got to give them credit, they came up with a couple big hits. They took advantage."

The Vikings got a RBI sacrifice fly by Hilbert and then a RBI single by pitcher Ethan Thompson to close the gap to 6-2 in the fifth inning but it wasn't enough.

Now the Cougars advance to the state semifinals for the second time in three years.

"We're just excited," Gasaway said. "We just want to go to the next step and come out ready to play and hopefully keep going."

"We got here sophomore year and lost in the state semis but we're going to come out and do al we can. Hopefully we get to the state championship."