River Dogs take first place at Walla Walla Invitational

WALLA WALLA - It was a banner weekend for the Columbia Basin River Dogs program.

The senior River Dogs team went undefeated at the Walla Walla Invitational and the Junior Dogs won the North Washington Babe Ruth 15-year-old State Championships in Spokane.

"Unbelievable that they rose to the occasion and won," head coach Randy Boruff said.

The Junior Dogs' state championship qualifies the team for the Babe Ruth World Series August 7 through 14 at Johnson-O'Brien Stadium in Ephrata.

"It's exciting for us," Boruff said. "Adds a little more flavor. We now have 36 kids in the area that their parents and everybody can see World Series play. Their kid can be in a World Series. It says a little something about our junior team and our depth."

The River Dogs began their run at the Walla Walla Invitational with a 19-0 rout against Mountlake Terrace.

Colton Kelly, Tyrel Panter and Matt Sutherland all homered.

Parker Stohr pitched a complete game and struck out five.

Columbia Basin continued its run with a 6-2 win over the Hanford Flames. Junior Ledgard struck out five batters and Cameron Walker added two hits.

In the quarterfinals, The River Dogs trailed throughout against the Spokane Northstars 7-2 before rallying to win after a walk-off grand slam by Kyle Kilian.

Kilian finished with six RBIs and three hits on the day. Aaron Schramm picked up the win in relief.

Behind two doubles and two RBIs from Kelly, the River Dogs advanced to the tournament championship after defeating the Seattle Tide, 5-1, in the semifinals.

Koleman Johns recorded the win and struck out five.

Against Walla Walla, the River Dogs rode a complete game from Hunter Boyd and finished as tournament champions with a 6-4 win.

Kelly and Drew Loera both homered for the River Dogs.

Columbia Basin will travel to the Baden Showcase in Seattle July 17 through 20.

"We're just coming together," Boruff said. "You can kind of feel it. We've got some guys who are seeing the ball really well."