The team fought through defensive miscues, early deficits and dreary weather, but in the end they delivered when it mattered.

Sophomore right hander Mason Devinney got the nod to start game one. After a lead off strikeout, four straight singles plated two runs for Yakima Valley.

After scoreless half innings for each team, Everett came back to tie it in the second thanks to four consecutive two out walks, capped by an RBI single from catcher Nate Davis.

Davis, who began the season hitting sixth in the order, has moved up in the order as the season has progressed, culminating in his placement as the leadoff hitter on Saturday.

“Batting leadoff is a little new to me, especially for a catcher, but the approach stays similar,” said the switch-hitting freshman. “You just try to see as many pitches as you can, help your teammates out, tell them what the pitchers are doing.”

In the third inning the slugfest began in earnest. Yakima Valley put up five runs in the top of the inning, capitalizing on two Everett errors along the way.

Everett responded in kind in their half of the inning, with third baseman Carson Burns starting the rally with a solo homer to left. Five batters and three more runs later the inning was bookended with a Brenden Haverlock wall ball RBI triple. Between them, the Yaks and Trojans totalled nine runs on six hits in the third inning.

Things would quiet down until the bottom of the seventh, but the excitement was far from over. With Everett trailing 10-6, the inning got off to a promising start with the first three Trojans batters reaching base.

A bases-loaded balk sent AJ Hendrickson home, and a Cooper McBride sacrifice fly scored Micah Coleman to halve the Yaks lead. Then came the rain.

Just when Everett seemed to have the momentum on their side, the comeback was put on hold for fifteen minutes. Some players scrambled to put tarps on the mound and around home plate. Those who were due to bat and couldn’t afford to get cold huddled around a wall-mounted heater in the tunnel behind the dugout.

The weather broke long enough for two plate appearances, with Haverlock and Davis taking walks of their own to reload the bases before a second delay halted proceedings yet again.

Morale remained high in the tunnel behind the dugout, players and coaches alike cracking jokes about the nature of March baseball in Washington.

The mood was dampened when play resumed, however, when shortstop Jonah Shull struck out looking on a close 3-2 pitch for the second out of the inning.

Designated hitter Keaton Fisher stepped to the plate with the game all but resting on his shoulders. He swung. He connected.

“I was pretty fired up. I didn’t know if it was gone or not to be honest,” Fisher said.

It was, in fact, gone. Fisher belted a go ahead grand slam through the wind and rain just over the fence and onto the grassy hill in right field.

“My teammates set me up in a good spot, I was just looking for a pitch to hit… and I got my pitch, got my swing off, just made things happen,” Fisher said.

Freshman right hander Nathan Harb, who had gotten the last two outs of the top of the seventh, stayed on for a scoreless eighth, but was lifted for Blake Sandvik after allowing a leadoff double in the ninth.

Six tense at-bats later, the righty stranded the bases loaded to secure a 12-11 Trojans win.

Game two was a much less anxious affair. Though Grays Harbor scored a run each in the first and second innings, Everett piled on five of their own in the bottom of the second and never looked back.

Freshman southpaw Callum Young settled in to work six innings, largely sparing the bullpen since the game was limited to seven innings. Brandon Brunette took over for the seventh and sat down the Chokers in order, striking out two and closing out the second Trojans win of the day.

Head Coach Keith Hessler took a lot of stock in the test of his team’s mettle.

“A lot of adversity in that first game, a lot of mistakes that we made to put ourselves in that situation, but for them not to quit was a big deal for me,” Hessler said.

Sunday saw the Trojans in a hole early, due partly, again, to their own defensive miscues. Grays Harbor plated two unearned runs off of Trojans starting pitcher Ethan Hubbell in the second inning for an early lead.

With Everett’s bats seemingly dead in the water, the Chokers would double the deficit, adding a run apiece in the fourth and sixth innings.

Then the switch flipped.

The Trojans lineup came roaring to life in the bottom of the sixth. A leadoff walk and an RBI double by center fielder Colin Beazizo chased the Chokers starter. After another walk, Fisher did damage again, bashing a three run homer to tie the game, still with nobody out.

A double and two more walks loaded the bases, and a sacrifice fly from McBride gave Everett the lead. With two outs, Davis stepped to the plate and drove a three run bomb of his own, putting the Trojans on top for good with an 8-4 lead.

“I was just trying to do my job, get some energy going,” Davis said. “We were kinda flat to start off the game but we battled back and I just got a pitch that I could hit hard and I put a good swing on it.”

Sandvik again came on for the save, but couldn’t seal the deal this time around and Brunette entered with one out and the bases loaded.

He allowed a sacrifice fly and a walk, and his efforts were hampered by the second error of the inning by the Trojans defense, but he was eventually able to lock down the save.

“I just try to come in with as much controlled energy as I can,” Brunette said. “I don’t wanna be too amped up where I can’t really control where the ball’s going or what I’m doing. I just wanna have the energy to stop any momentum if it’s a sticky situation.”

Game four was a dramatic change of pace compared to game three, as the rainy weather could do nothing to deter the 17-1 drubbing put on by the Trojans lineup.

Standout performances included those of Coleman, who went two for two with three RBIs and his first home run of the season, and Burns, who went three for three with a walk and three RBIs of his own.

Whether it was their own miscues, the weather, or the other team jumping out to an early lead, the Trojans pushed through all the adversity they faced this weekend and swept their opponents out of town.

They will look to do the same against Columbia Basin next weekend.

“I think that’s the makeup of our team, is to play through adversity and stay with each other,” Hessler said.