Andrew Hosmer turned the play of the game into the play of the game late Friday afternoon when he made a miracle of a diving outfield catch to snatch a win away from visiting Archbishop Murphy for the South Whidbey Falcons.

The catch, which was a third-out play in the eighth inning of the second meeting this season between the two teams, sent two Archbishop Murphy baserunners and batter Alex Burch back into the field just when the game seemed won. Burch hit what looked like a big, two-RBI game winner to center with the score deadlocked at 1-1 in the top of the eighth when Hosmer streaked in to sacrifice body and clean uniform for the out.

The catch got the Falcons back to the plate, where they used some aggressive offense to put one more run on the board to claim the team’s first victory of the season, 3-2.

Having lost to the same team 7-1 on the road three days earlier, the South Whidbey boys had their game together in ways it had not been in the first two games of the season. Solid pitching from a staff that got rocked for 15 runs on March 15 limited Archbishop Murphy’s Wolves two just seven hits, while the South Whidbey offense improved sevenfold over its one-hit performance last Tuesday.

This time, the Falcons took the lead early and held on. In the first inning, Hosmer brought in the first run when he singled onto base, moved ahead on a stolen base and a Michael Lodell single, then came home on an RBI walk by freshman Lakota Holder.

Two innings later, junior Dane Guetlin made the Falcon offense more offensive to the Wolves, blasting a long double off the left center field fence, then coming home on an errant throw from a Michael Lodell ground ball.

Holding the Wolves on a choke chain was the pitching team of Stefan Kolbo and Dustin Sidhu. Kolbo, who got battered in the season opener against Anacortes, lasted five innings and gave up just two runs. Sidhu then came in to shut down the opposition for the remainder of the game, claiming his first victory of the season.

It took a team effort in the eighth to finish the game. Getting on base for the Falcons were Joel Friesen on a walk, Lakota Holder on a single, and Sidhu on a walk. With the bases loaded, Michael Osburn made a sure thing sure by hitting a no-outs RBI single to left field.