It was a bit of a bright spot in an otherwise overcast season.

The Quilcene Rangers left Concordia Christian Academy thunderstruck last week in a lopsided 16-1 win in boys varsity baseball.

While the Hawks hammered away early in the contest, the Concordia bats fell silent as the Rangers took control and quickly put the game out of reach.

The win marked Quilcene’s first of the season. It followed a pair of losses at the start of the season, the first a 17-2 defeat at the hands of Darrington, followed by a 12-1 win by Orcas Island.

Unfortunately for the Rangers, they came down from the mountaintop win late last week against Rainier Christian. The Mustangs galloped away Quilcene’s cozy corral, saddling the Rangers with a 9-3 loss Thursday.

And on Monday, Lake Quinault prevailed in a low-scoring affair in Quilcene, 4-0.

“We’re just making young team mistakes,” Ranger Coach Darrin Dotson said of the Rangers’ efforts so far. 

Dotson noted the Rangers were facing a very young team against Concordia, much to Quilcene’s benefit.

Still, he can relate. The Rangers are collectively fielding four freshmen early this season.

Freshman Oliver Hawkins started on the mound for the Rangers in the matchup with Concordia, with Aiden Cate coming in to close.

“Both of those kids are very baseball savvy; they are very mature for their age when it comes to baseball,” Dotson said.

Unlike other teams in the league, Quilcene doesn’t have a cadre of athletes who play the sport past the high school season. And Dotson’s roster dips down into the eight grade.

Even so, interest in baseball is good, given the size of the school, which has 80 kids stretched across the eighth- through 12th grades.

“I’m really honored to have 24 kids on my team, from eighth grade to 12th grade,” Dotson said.

One crucial key will be improvements on defense, something underscored in Monday’s game against the Elks. 

“It was a tough loss. It was just due to a lot of first-inning errors that we had,” Dotson said.

Still, the future looks bright, he added.

“They have come together. There are plays we’ve been able to execute,” Dotson said.

“We’re going to be pretty good in a couple years.”