Play ball!
A baserunner for the 13U Columbia Basin Riverdogs advances to third base against the 13U Tri-Cities Spartans.
Ian Bivona
A player for the 12U Wenatchee All-Stars pitches against the 12U Snohomish Pilchuckers during the Pete Doumit Memorial Tournament on Sunday.
A baserunner for the 12U Kennewick Americans runs to third base against Snohomish.
An 11U Moses Lake All-Star pitcher pitches against Cashmere in the semifinals of the 11U division bracket at the Pete Doumit Memorial Tournament.
Players and coaches from the 13U Tri-Cities Spartans smile after winning the 13/14U division at the Pete Doumit Memorial Tournament. The Spartans defeated the 13U Columbia Basin Riverdogs in the title game.
A player for the 10U O-Town Bombers pitches against the 10U Ephrata Tigers at the Pete Doumit Memorial Tournament on Sunday.
A 14U Ephrata baserunner advances to home plate off an RBI by a teammate.
A baserunner for the 11U Moses Lake All-Stars, right, darts toward third base at the Pete Doumit Memorial Tournament on Sunday.
A pitcher for the Columbia Basin Riverdogs pitches against the Warrior Baseball Club in the semifinals of the 13/14U division bracket at the Pete Doumit Memorial Tournament on Sunday.
MOSES LAKE — Hosted by the Moses Lake Youth Baseball Association, the third annual Pete Doumit Memorial Tournament took to the diamonds of Larson Playfield from Friday through Sunday, crowning four winners over the four different age divisions.
The 10U Whatcom Prep, the 11U Lake Stevens Riptide, the 12U Ellensburg All-Stars and the 13U Tri-Cities Spartans all left with tournament titles.
“It’s awesome, I think it’s great and we continue to grow it,” MLYBA President Jason Avila said. “We’ve got a board that is continuing to do some great things with Moses Lake Youth Baseball, and we’re going to continue to put on this tournament. Hopefully, we can add some more tournaments throughout the year.”
Teams competed in pool play in 10U, 11U, 12U and 13/14U divisions on Friday and Saturday, beginning bracket games on Sunday morning. Twenty-seven teams competed in the tournament from all directions of Washington, from Tri-Cities to Omak, and Lake Stevens to Moses Lake.
“This being the third annual Pete Doumit tournament, we’ve had about (27) teams this year,” Avila said. “A little lower than we expected, just because we had some lodging issues – the Gorge had a big concert so a couple teams backed out, but everyone’s having a good time.”
The legacy of Doumit lived on throughout the tournament, including for Jeremy Vasquez, the head coach of the 13U Columbia Basin Riverdogs.
“It’s incredible – Pete (Doumit) coached me, he was one of my favorite coaches,” he said. “It’s an honor to play in a tournament like this, to represent his name and what he stood for.”
Steve Keller, head coach of the 11U Moses Lake All-Stars, shared similar sentiments to Vasquez on playing in the tournament.
“(Doumit) meant a lot to so much of this town,” Keller said. “The counties in the state of Washington – everywhere that he coached, he changed people’s lives by his attitude and his effort, and how he played the game.”
Both the 13U Riverdogs and 11U All-Stars reached the championship game in their respective age divisions. Moses Lake fell 7-2 to Lake Stevens, and the Riverdogs lost 7-1 to Tri-Cities. The two coaches noted the steadiness it took to reach the tournament’s title game.
“It took consistent pitching, throwing strikes and letting them put the ball in play and trusting our defense,” Vasquez said.
“Consistency, competitiveness and enjoying the rollercoaster,” Keller said. “Up and down of ‘miss a ball, get an error, get a baserunning mistake’ – move on from it, move on to the next pitch. I thought they played ‘this pitch’ very well today.”
The Riverdogs have been playing since early April, and will focus on baserunning and cleaning up mental errors, according to Vasquez.
“We’ve got to take advantage when we’re on the base,” Vasquez said. “Left a few baserunners on that we should have had crossing the plate, and just cleaning up those mental errors that we’re better than.”
The Pete Doumit Memorial Tournament was the second tournament of the season for the 11U Moses Lake All-Stars, who placed third at the King of Kennewick tournament last weekend.
“That was our second tournament, we’ve been playing for three weeks together,” Keller said. “Had two weeks of practices and played in a tournament right away in Tri-Cities last weekend, ended up getting third place in that one. Coming here, we were excited to play for the Pete Doumit (tournament) — it’s always nice to honor (him).”
Ian Bivona may be reached at ibivona@columbiabasinherald.com.
