State championship run ends for the Desert Dogs
KENT - A possible run to the next level at the North Washington Senior Babe Ruth State Championships ended for the Desert Dogs in an 8-1 loss to the Toyota Bash at Russell Road Park in Kent last Friday.
The Dogs won one of three games at state, following a 4-3 loss to the Kitsap Americans in their opener with a 9-0 victory over the Spokane Crew, then the loss to the Bash.
Toyota Bash 8, Desert Dogs 1
The Dogs were within striking distance of the Bash for nearly the entire ballgame - right until the top of the seventh inning, that is.
Toyota's Riley Smith (Bellevue High School) ended what was the Dogs last chance of moving on to the next round at state when he powered a grand slam home run off Columbia Basin reliever Tanner Williams (Ephrata). The Bash had loaded the bases with two hits and a hit batter before Smith's four-RBI shot.
Toyota had taken a 2-0 lead with single runs in the first and second inning, getting RBI hits from Jacob Holmes (Newport-Bellevue) in the opening frame and Smith in the second inning. But the Desert Dogs cut the margin in half with their lone run in the fourth inning - Koleman Johns (Naches Valley) reached first base on a walk, got to second on a sacrifice fly from Austin Molner (Naches Valley), moved to third on a passed ball and scored on a single from Nate Steffler (Moses Lake).
The Bash opened the gap with two runs in the sixth inning before putting the contest out of reach in the seventh. Devin Juarez (Moses Lake) had two of Columbia Basin's eight hits in the ballgame.
Dogs 9, Crew 0
These two teams faced off a week earlier at the River Dog Invitational, with the Desert Dogs getting the win. It was a confidence boost that clearly carried into state for the Desert Dogs.
Columbia Basin established its dominance right from the start, putting four runs on the scoreboard at Kent Memorial Park in the first inning. The big shot was an RBI-triple from Bryce Beavers (Ephrata), while Johns and Molner also drove in runs.
Juarez made it 5-0 in the second inning when he singled, got to third base on an error and scored on a sacrifice fly from Beavers. Molner and Steffler had RBIs in the third frame to push the Dogs' lead to 7-0, and singles from Cole Gilman (Moses Lake) and Kody Samuels (Moses Lake) led to the final two runs for Columbia Basin in the fourth inning.
Johns went six innings on the mound to get the win for the Desert Dogs, throwing a five hitter with 10 strikeouts. Gilman and Ben Wells (Naches Valley) finished with two hits each for Columbia Basin.