Cougars' fourth out key in comeback sweep
Alan Dale/Columbia Basin Herald<br> Warden pitcher Manuel Amezola (17) throws to first baseman Jon Burkholder just in time to beat a Cle Elum runner. The host Cougars swept Cle Elum on Saturday.
WARDEN — Baseball has a rule where a team is allowed three outs per inning.
But thanks to a Cle Elum error in the Warden half of the fourth inning of the teams’ doubleheader on Saturday, the host Cougars were given an extra out.
And the rest, as they say, was history.
Behind early in the opener, the Cougars rallied for a 14-7 win and then stomped out a 10-0 victory in the nightcap to record the sweep.
But it might not have happened if not for Cle Elum’s gift of a fourth out.
Down 6-2 and reeling in game one, Warden had Jacob Yamane on second base with no outs when the Cougars’ Cruz Pruneda struck out.
However the Cle Elum catcher dropped the ball and allowed Pruneda to run to first when he threw to third instead of putting the batter down at first.
With both batters ultimately safe, Warden now had runners at the corners with no outs, or in other words, they were granted a four-out inning.
From there Warden (6-1) scored five runs to take the lead 7-6, and added five more in the fifth inning for the sweep to be officially on.
“You just hope in those situations you can make plays and take advantage,” Warden coach Dan Cabellero said. “We put up four runs with two outs so it was a huge break. That’s the thing about high school baseball, you don’t know who will make the first mistake first.”
After the decision back-fired for Cle Elum, Warden would outscore their guests 22-1 over the final nine innings.
“Once the kids got to hitting and their pitchers started making mistakes we got that mindset and we started hammering them.” Caballero said. “Their confidence went up after that and we just smoked them.”
Warden also was able to score 24 runs on 23 hits over the two games, thanks in part to 10 Warriors’ errors.
During the first game win, Derek Pruneda went 2-for-4 with a double, Yamane went 2-for-3 with two doubles, and Jim Mabry 2-for-4 including a double.
In game two, Arty Reyes pitched a six-inning complete game no hitter with 11 strikeouts to record the win.
Reyes was two walks away from a perfect game.
Ty Jesse was 2-for-3 with a home run and Reyes went 3-for-4 and was a home run short of a cycle, Yamane completed a 3-for-4 game with a home run and a double and Jon Burkholder finished 2-for-4.
“The kids are starting to finally realize that overall we can play with everybody,” Caballero said.
Wenatchee 14-4, Moses Lake 10-3
WENATCHEE — It was either a high scoring game or a pitchers’ duel and in the end the Wenatchee Panthers found a way to keep the Moses Lake Chiefs at bay in both scenarious Friday.
Wenatchee outhit Moses Lake in game one of the team’s Big 9 Columbia Division opening doubleheader, winning 14-10 and then outpitched the Chiefs to take the nightcap 4-3.
Moses Lake led 5-0 after the game’s first three outs in the opener but would allow Wenatchee to tie the game 5-5 by the third.
The Chiefs (1-7, 0-2) took their last lead 6-5 in the fourth before the Panthers scored six in the next frame to pull away.
Moses Lake had 17 hits but committed four timely errors.
“We also left eight runners on base,” Moses Lake coach Ed McNamara said. “Errors again were a menace, especially with our infield fielding and throwing. We also had some baserunning mistakes.”
Garrett Greninger finished 4-for-4 with two doubles and two RBI, Matt Garza went 4-for-5 with two doubles, Dylan Signorelli hit a three-run home run in the first inning, Alvarado went 2-for-3 with two doubles and two RBI, and Mitch Yada went 3-for-4.
In the second game Moses Lake managed eight hits but couldn’t get enough Chiefs across the plate in the one-run loss.
“We had a good pitching game from Dylan and Matt,” McNamara said. “But we gave up three unearned runs in the fourth and that made the difference.
Garza went 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI, Signorelli finished 2-for-3 with a double, while Chris Lacelle and Tanner Lowry each went 1-for-3 with an RBI apiece.
Moses Lake stranded eight runners in the nightcap.
Ephrata 10-9, Grandview 0-7
GRANDVIEW — Ephrata got off the early season snide with a sweep of Grandview on Saturday.
The Tigers won their first two games of the year, 10-0 and 9-7 to record their first two wins of the season and in Central Washington Athletic Conference (CWAC) play.
The Tigers (2-4, 2-3) took the first game in six innings and were sparked by a four-run first inning.
Ephrata was led by Clayton Brock’s 2-for-3 day, with a double and three RBI, Marco Salas went 2-for-3 with two RBI, Bryce Todd who went 2-for-3, and Tanner Williams who finished 1-for-4, with his only hit being a first-inning grand slam.
In the second game, Ephrata bounced back from an early 5-1 deficit after the first three innings, tying the game at 5-5 in the fourth and taking the lead for good, 9-7, going into the sixth.
The nightcap heroes for the Tigers were Brock who went 3-for-4 with a double and three RBI and Grant Kallstrom’s 2-for-4 day which included a triple with two RBI.
Quincy 9-5, Wapato 2-1
QUINCY — Quincy kept the Wapato Wolves winless with a 9-2, 5-1 doubleheader sweep on Saturday.
Quincy (3-2, 2-0) used a five-run second inning in the opener to pull away.
Jackson Hodges went 3-for-4 with 2 RBI while Vince Lopez went 2-for-3 for the winning Jacks squad.
Quincy took an early 3-0 lead and held on to win the nightcap as Craig Omlin recorded the win on the mound while helping himself at the plate, going 2-for-4 with a double.
Selah 7-20, Othello 1-10
SELAH — The Othello Huskies’ offense couldn’t keep up in a doubleheader loss at Selah on Saturday.
Selah rolled to a 7-1, 20-10 sweep as the Huskies dropped their first two games of the season.
In the opener, Othello (4-2, 3-2) was held to four hits but came alive with 10 in the second contest but Selah erupted for 22 of their own and rolled from there.
Othello led 7-5 going into the bottom of the third before Selah scored 12 runs over their half of the inning and in the fourth to pull away.
Caleb Garza was walked five times over the two games for Othello while Connor Hamilton got three hits with two doubles, and Shon Valdez had three hits, on the day to highlight the Huskies’ offense.
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