ANACORTES — By the time Lynden’s bats came to life Monday, it was too little, too late, and too much Kyle Olson.

The diminutive Cedarcrest lefthander held the Lions to three hits — two of those in the seventh inning — as the Red Wolves defeated Lynden 5-1 in a Class 2A Northwest District first-round baseball game at Volunteer Field.

The Lions (13-8) must now fight their way through the consolation bracket to earn one of the district’s four berths to the state tournament. Lynden plays Bellingham, which lost 5-3 to Sehome, at 6 p.m. today.

Cedarcrest (16-5) advances to the district semifinal, where it will play Sehome at 3 p.m. today.

Olson struck out seven Lynden hitters and although he walked six, the Lions weren’t able to capitalize and dent the scoreboard until their final at-bat.

“You’re going to see good guys on the bump in the playoffs,” Lynden coach Cory White said. “We had guys on throughout the game, we just didn’t get a hit when we had to.”

“He’s done that for us all year,” Cedarcrest coach Scott Goldsberry said of Olson, whom he said is the Red Wolves’ No. 2 starter behind Cameron Padron, who played first base Monday.

In the top of the seventh, Lynden mounted its only rally of the game. Ryan Hastings was hit by a pitch, and Tim Johnson followed with a single to left field.

Two hitters later, Aaron Libolt walked to load the bases. Adam Lewis then hit a screaming liner that appeared to bounce off Olson’s leg into shallow left field to score Hastings.

If Olson’s leg was injured, it didn’t affect his pitching to the final hitter, Tyler Lingbloom, who bounced into a game-ending double play.

Lynden pitcher Ryan Martin, who entered the game with a 6-1 record and a 1.57 earned-run average, struggled in the early going as Cedarcrest took advantage of a handful of early walks. Martin walked five and had no strikeouts.

In the first inning, two of the Red Wolves’ first three hitters — Jeffrey Coble and Dakota Bunce — walked. Padron’s chopper to second resulted in the first of Lynden’s three errors, and Craig Chittenden made the Lions pay when tripled into the right-field corner to score Kase Brammer (running for Bunce) and Padron.

Walks hurt Lynden again in the second. Mark Bishop drew a walk to lead off, and Michael Elwell reached base when another apparent double-play ball was mishandled by the Lynden infield. Two hitters later, Olson singled to right field to score Bishop and give Cedarcrest a 3-0 lead.

The Red Wolves added two runs in the fourth, again aided by bases on balls. Coble drew a leadoff walk and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Olson. Bunce’s single to right scored Coble, and the left-handed-hitting Padron went the opposite way, hitting a double down the left-field line to chase Bunce home.

Scott Havard relieved Martin after 3 1/3 innings, struck out four and walked none. Charlie Voth got Lynden’s first hit with a single to center in the second inning.

White said the Lions will have to improve defensively if the team hopes to advance.

“I’m frustrated from the defensive standpoint,” White said. “You can’t give teams extra outs in a tournament like this.

Offensively, I didn’t think guys were pressing at the plate. We were a little tight, but that’s to be expected. We hit the ball at ‘em; (Cedarcrest) got the hits when they had to.”

Craig Parrish can be reached at craig.parrish@bellinghamherald.com or 715-2279.