Dunes wrap season up at Babe Ruth state

POULSBO - It may not have been the ideal way to wrap up their season but the Moses Lake Dunes can still say it ended at the Babe Ruth U-13 State Championships at Snider Park.

The Dunes (17-18) dropped all four games they played at the state finals, played during the course of last week.

"It is disappointing making the trip west and coming home without a win," Dunes head coach Jesse Heaverlo said. "I expected us to be more competitive than we were. The offense just never came back as we only scored 18 runs in the 4 games combined, after averaging 20 per game at districts. Credit to our opponents ability to pitch to and defend us, I guess."

The Dunes lost their first game 5-3 to Anacortes. Desi Ortega and Micah Sanchez each had two hits to lead the Dunes offense and Cade Tunstall pitched five innings of shutout ball before Anacortes held on.

"We pitched and played defense but couldn't get the hit needed to break thru," Heaverlo said.

Then in game two, Ephrata knocked the Dunes to 0-2 with an 11-7 win. Anthony Longmire batted 2-for-3 to spark the Dunes bats.

"We fell behind pretty big early," Heaverlo said. "Although we pulled to within 8-7 late, Ephrata did what they needed to get the win."

North Kitsap took it to the Dunes in a 13-3 win.

Jason Cole got on base three times and got a hit in his only official at bat.

"As much as the first two games of the pool play were winnable, I am not sure this one was," Heaverlo said. "North Kitsap is a very solid team. It would have taken our best game of the year to keep this game competitive and we fell far short of that."

The tournament wrapped for the Dunes with a 7-5 loss to Central Kitsap as Cesar Sandoval went 3-for-3 in the loss.

Hakeem Olaniyan's two-run single sparked a three-run, bottom of the seventh tied the game at 4-4 for the Dunes before Central took control in extra innings.

"Despite the outcomes, the boys effort was there and we just didn't get that bounce we needed to start some momentum," Heaverlo said. "All in all, the boys are better ballplayers today than they were at the beginning at the spring and we'll try to continue to build on that foundation."