Sun Devils take Father's Day Bash Tournament
The Columbia Basin Sun Devils celebrate after winning the Mt. Spokane Father's Day Bash Tournament recently.
SPOKANE - For the Columbia Basin Sun Devils losing to a cohesive team like Southridge may have been the best thing to happen.
Seeing a team like Southridge that epitomizes consistency allowed the Sun Devils to focus on their chemistry issues and reevaluate their approach at the plate.
"When we started off the season we played Southridge and I mean there are great baseball players over there," head coach Jeremy Martinez said. "Their high school teams pretty much roll into summer with them. Whereas after we're down with high school our guys kind of split up. Some guys go River Dogs, some guys stick with us, we're drawing guys in from out of town. So we kind of had to figure our chemistry out."
After starting the season 5-5, the Sun Devils were able to roll through the Mt. Spokane Father's Day Bash Tournament and take first place recently.
The team improved to 10-5 and have won six straight by the mercy rule.
"I think when we got into that tournament everything just started falling together," Martinez said. "Our approach at the plate was looking good. They were very disciplined. They weren't chasing pitches that they had no business going after."
Columbia Basin took the opener against Lewis and Clark, 9-1, and in the second round against Mt. Spokane pitcher Cain Valdez put on a dazzling performance in a 12-0 win over Mt. Spokane.
Valdez pitched a no-hitter and was one hit batter away from a perfect game.
"He was throwing hard and hitting his spots and just nobody could touch him," Martinez said.
Pitchers Draven Nevarez, Grant Gollehon and Dylan Hooper also contributed to the Sun Devils' run to the championship.
After defeating Gonzaga Prep 8-0 and Deer Park 20-0, Columbia Basin met Lewis and Clark again in the championship game. The result was the same as the Sun Devils atoned for their only run allowed during the tournament by shutting out Lewis and Clark 8-0.
"Our pitchers just came out and threw nothing but strikes," Martinez said. "That was another thing we started talking about after Southridge, not so much to try and strike everybody out but to pitch for contact and challenge them."
Columbia Basin is back on the diamond Tuesday when the team travels for a doubleheader against Walla Walla at 3 p.m.
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