ML Babe Ruth play perfect week

The Moses Lake 14-year-old Babe Ruth all-star team completed a perfect week Saturday by defeating Eastmont 5-3 for the District 5 championship. The Waterdogs won earlier games against Upper Valley (Cashmere) and Central Basin (Ephrata/Quincy).

Tuesday night against Upper Valley, Moses Lake won 11-7. The Waterdogs scored eight runs in the first two innings and coasted the rest of the way. Moses Lake was led by Kurt Hickman's four hits and three RBI's and Tyson Martinez's two hits and three RBI's. Kyle Hickman also had two hits and two RBI's .

Thursday night saw an exciting and unbelievable comeback. The Waterdogs dug a hole and found themselves down 14-3 after three innings. The excitement began in the top of the fourth inning, when Moses Lake scored 13 runs to take the lead. Moses Lake would go on to score 19 unanswered runs to win the game 22-14. Adrian "Bogi" Valdez pitched the last four innings for the save, giving up three hits and no runs. Jesse Guerra picked up the win.

After having the championship postponed on Friday night, the Waterdogs came back to play Eastmont on Saturday for the District championship. Matt Harris pitched five solid innings for the win, helped by relief from Zack Happer and Bogi Valdez. Moses Lake struck fast after holding down Eastmont in the top of the first thanks to a timely double play. In the bottom of the inning, Billy Brice led off with a single. Brandt Frederick followed with a bunt single and when the ball was thrown away, Brice and Frederick ended up on second and third. Matt Harris followed with a double to left center that brought in two runs. Moses Lake scored its third run of the inning when Harris scored on a ground out.

Moses Lake came back with another run in the bottom of the second when Chris Jackson led off with a single. After a stolen base by Jackson, Zack Happer lined a double to left field to bring in Jackson. Eastmont scored two runs in the third and one in the fourth to make it close. In the bottom of the fourth, the Waterdogs added an insurance run when Brice walked with two outs. After a stolen base and a walk, Matt Harris came up with his third RBI on a single to left field. Even though Eastmont would have runners on in each of the last three innings, the Moses Lake pitching kept them from finding homeplate.

The Moses Lake 14-year-olds will next play on July 20 at the state tournament in Naches against the host team.

— Staff reports