Columbia Basin baseball top dog
The River Dogs Nate Steffler beats feet to third base on a sacrifice fly to center field by Johnny Navarro.
Teammates Bryton Redal (16) and Tanner Wiliams (30) greet Josh Snider at home after the left-handed sluggler belted a three-run home run to put Columbia Basin up 3-0 in the bottom of the first inning.
EPHRATA - The Columbia Basin River Dogs played an unwelcome host at the Northwest Prep Championship tournament held in Ephrata over the weekend as the team finished with five wins and one loss to claim top honors.
The River Dogs opened pool play with a 5-0 win over the Spokane Crew Thursday, but dropped their second game 1-0 to the Seattle Titans.
The game was scheduled for a 5:30 start Friday evening, but was pushed back to 8 p.m. because of a thunderstorm rolling through the area that dumped golf ball sized hail on the field.
The delay meant the games on Saturday were all pushed back as well as Mother Nature wrecked havoc with the scheduling. So instead of a 3 p.m start, the River Dogs game against the Prairie Cardinals got underway at 3:40.
Columbia Basin got off to a fast start as the River Dogs hung three runs on the board in the bottom of the first inning.
Johnny Navarro hit a line drive in the teams first at bat for the initial out of the inning.
But an infield hit by Bryton Redal and a double by Elliot Sage put runners on second and third with one out.
Then up stepped Josh Snider who hit a rocket of a shot well beyond the right field fence to give the River Dogs a 3-0 lead.
The score didn't hold up long however, as the Cardinals brought three runs across the plate on one hit, two of which were unearned to tie the game 3-3 in the top of the second inning.
Columbia Basin was held of he board in the bottom of the second, as was Prairie in the top of the third inning.
The Cardinals did threaten to break the tie, but Sage, the River Dogs catcher, was bowled over at the plate by a Prairie runner trying to score and was ruled out on the play.
The bottom of the third proved to be the difference maker in the game as the River Dogs exploded for six runs to go up 9-3.
Columbia Basin's starting pitcher had been dealing with control issues for the first three innings as he hit two batters and walked three more.
But consecutive one-two-three outs in the fourth and fifth innings was just what the doctor ordered for Hector Zavala as he was able to work himself out of a few tight spots.
The River Dogs added three runs in the fourth to push the score to 12-3.
The Cardinals were unable to answer the bell in the top of the fifth and the game finished early as the eight-run mercy rule was invoked, giving Columbia Basin its second win in three pool play games.
River Dogs 2
Diamondbacks 1
Game four between the Burbank Diamondbacks and the River Dogs got underway at 5:45. Columbia Basin struck first with a run in the second, then added one in the third to go up 2-0.
The Diamondbacks hung their only run on the board in the top of the fourth to make a game of it, 2-1. Neither team scored the rest of the way as Columbia Basin won its third game in pool play.
Andrew Pfaff from West Valley of Yakima got the win for the River Dogs. The win over Burbank put Columbia Basin in a semifinal game against Spokane Sunday morning.
River Dogs 4
Crew 2
Spokane got out of the gate first take a 1-0 lead in the semifinal game against Columbia Basin. But it didn't last long as the River Dogs pushed two runs across the plate to go up 2-1 in the bottom of the first inning. Columbia Basin added two more in the third to stretch the score to 4-1.
Both teams were held of the scoreboard until the Crew got a run in the top of the seventh and threatened to add a couple more as Spokane had a runner on second with no outs.
But the River Dogs Cody Johns got two Crew hitters to fly out and another to ground out to end the ball game and advance Columbia Basin to the championship game against the Titans.
River Dogs 11
Titans 1
It wasn't much of a contest for all the marbles as Columbia Basin blew past Seattle by double-digits to win with ease.
Johnny Navarro was the big stick for the River Dogs, going 3-for-3 at the plate.
Elliot Sage had two hits and an RBI and Josh Snider threw a complete game five-hitter while fanning eight Titans as Columbia Basin rolled to the lopsided win.
The River Dogs are back in action in Ephrata next weekend as the team hosts the Washington Open Baseball Classic beginning Thursday.
The time is yet to be determined.