Cougars baseball falls to defending champs

YAKIMA - Make no mistake about it, capturing Warden High School's second ever baseball trophy is a big deal.

Yet, the Cougars would have liked to put this one a little higher up on the mantel than the last one.

On Saturday at Parker Field, the Cougars faced the defending Class 2B state champions, Seattle Lutheran, and ultimately fell 7-1 in the 2011 championship game.

Warden finished 22-4 and with its second runner-up trophy in the program's history.

"They had a solid pitcher that kept us off balance the whole game," Warden head coach Dan Caballero said. "We didn't really find that groove that we had been accustomed to and hitting the ball in our zone.  He had us guessing the entire game by staying ahead in the count."

Derek Pruneda went 2-for-3 and Jacob Yamane ended up 1-for-3 to lead the Cougars' offense, recording the only hits on the night.

"When we did hit the ball hard it was right at someone," Caballero said. "We did have runners in scoring position just about every inning but we couldn't get them across."

Manuel Amezola pitched for Warden, taking the loss.

"I can't say enough about Manuel," Caballero said. "He competed and did his job by keeping us in the game."

The previous evening, Warden got past LaConner in the semifinals with a resounding 9-4 win.

At first the team came out a little jittery, trailing 2-0 after the top of the second inning before Warden's bats got going.

"We didn't really know what to expect because we knew nothing about our opponents," Caballero said. "LaConner had some troubles defensively and committed some errors.  We did a great job putting the ball in play and forcing them to have to make plays so that pressure got to them and we came up some big hits when needed them."

Louie Reyes hit a two-out triple that helped spark a five-run second inning, as his hit brought two runs across.

In their half of the fifth inning, JP Martinez and Anthony Platas hit back-to-back doubles and Reyes once again came up big with a two-run triple.

The Cougars' pitching and defense then cemented the win.

"I can't say enough about our defense and the excellent pitching that Marcelo did on the bump for us," Caballero said. "He got into a couple of jams that he worked himself out of and found a way to get out of it."

So it may not have been the ideal finish for the Cougars, but the players and coaches can take much from a great season.

"I was very proud of how our kids played and of the season they put together," Caballero said. "Although we lost the title game to Seattle Lutheran our kids showed that we can compete. A second place finish and 22-4 record are both something to be very proud of."