Quincy retains Battle of the Basin trophy with 4-0 win

EPHRATA — “Guerrero! Guerrero! Do you want me to go get it?” Johan Farias shouted to his head coach as the referee readied his whistle.

The “it” referred to the Battle of the Basin trophy, an idol Quincy retained with a 4-0 win over rival Ephrata Thursday on a blustery pitch.

Farias raced toward the team’s bus and returned with the prize tight within his grasp — not unlike the shots he saved between the posts as goalie — paired with a grin.

The Jacks (2-0, 5-1-3) made their way to the center of the field and erupted in jubilation.

“This is my last year and I wanted to win it my last year and we wish we could win it every other year,” Quincy forward Francisco Alejandrez said. “They (Ephrata) have players that actually give us a challenge. I feel like it was a really good challenge. That’s why I try to put my team more organized, you know? Make them touch, make them play easy.”

Conversely, the sea of green celebrating on their home field was an eye sore for the Tigers (0-2, 3-6). The rivalry runs deep with the familiarity that comes from a school located less than 20 miles to the west.

“It’s you trying to outdo your next door neighbor,” Ephrata head coach Ivan Garay said. “It’s the rivalry, it’s the game of the year that you mark on your calendar. We want to win them because it’s the guys that, like I said, they come over during the summer and play with us. We know a lot of their players. A lot of our players grew up playing with their players so you want to beat those guys that you’ve known since you were young.”

A quick goal in the 10th minute helped Quincy avoid flat starts that have at times plagued the team this season. Fredy Ruiz was able to put a boot on a cross into the middle of the penalty box for the first of his two goals on the evening.

“For this team it’s always important because it seems like after we score the first one everything follows,” Quincy head coach Arturo Guerrero said. “Before that we had a couple good opportunities. We could’ve been three, four nothing. But it’s just once we get the pressure off everybody follows and everybody plays better. It seems like the first one is the most difficult for this team.”

With the self-proclaimed hard one out of the way early, Kevin Rios was able to sneak behind Ephrata’s back line for a goal in the 30th minute.

Quincy delivered the knockout blow just two minutes into the second half. Ruiz — using his speed — caught up to the through ball and powered a shot to the left of Ephrata goalie Andres Mendoza. Ruiz’s acceleration proved to be some the Tigers’ defense couldn’t account for.

“He’s a fast, skillful player,” Garay said. “We know him. He comes and plays in our summer program so we’ve seen the type of player he is, but more than anything he’s just got jet speed. He’s got that extra gear.”

With a three-goal lead, the best defense in the Central Washington Athletic Conference buckled down for the rest of the second half and posted its fourth straight shutout.

“They’re so skilled at what they do and they’re tough,” Guerrero said. “Mentally tough, physically tough and they just don’t give any opportunities and we’re not like the defense where we just like to kick the ball anywhere; we like to control the ball and play from the back and they trust each other. I think that is the key, that they trust each other so much.”

AJ Gallegos capped Quincy’s scoring with a goal in the 77th minute.

Ephrata’s fourth loss in a row came with some soul-searching post game, trying to figure out how to manufacture offense for a team that has scored two goals combined during its skid.

“I’m not even going to give credit to any defense right now with as bad as the offense is playing,” Garay said. “We’re just not taking the shots when we need to. I think us looking bad offensively is an us problem, not that a defense is holding us down.”

Toppenish 3, Othello 0

OTHELLO — Sometimes controlling possession and taking the most shots isn’t enough.

The ball has to go in the net, by any means necessary.

Despite only taking three first-half shots, Toppenish scored once and capitalized on risks by Othello in the second half to win 3-0.

It was a frustrating night for the Huskies (1-1, 6-1), who couldn’t score no matter how many forwards were brought up.

“We couldn’t muster up a good shot on goal,” head coach Bernie Garza said.

Toppenish scored in the 21st minute and then notched two more goals within the final five minutes when Othello had left only two defenders back in an attempt to generate more shots on goal.

“We don’t have a go-to guy,” Garza said. “That’s going to be the million dollar question.”

Royal 3, Naches Valley 1

ROYAL CITY — Royal scored three goals in the second half to rally against Naches Valley 3-1.

Jarek Barbee scored in the 11th minute to put the visitor’s ahead 1-0.

“The inability to put a team like Naches down early makes it difficult because they look to take advantage of set pieces, aerial balls and long throw-ins while doing their best to create confusion and foster mistakes in the opponent,” head coach Jens Jensen said. “They pressured us into a mistake in organization and clearing the ball that resulted in a deflected ball ending up in our net.”

Royal (3-1, 8-1-1) found its footing in the second half and evened the game in the 41st minute on a goal by Juan Ojeda. Israel Cortez scored in the 45th minute and Michael Rojas capped the comeback in the 63rd minute.

Royal out-shot Naches 29-4.

Warden 2, Kiona-Benton 1

WARDEN — Warden ended a six-game skid with a 2-1 victory over Kiona-Benton.

Warden (2-7-1) travels to Cascade on Saturday.

Baseball

Cashmere 11, Quincy 3

QUINCY — Quincy struggled against quality Class 1A Cashmere and lost 11-3.

“Very well-coached and they just kind of took it to us today,” head coach Andy Harris said.

Quincy scored three runs in the third inning to pull within one before Cashmere struck for two runs in the sixth and five in the seventh.

Hunter Rosenberger gave up four runs in three innings for the Jacks and also had a RBI single.