10U, 11U Moses Lake All-Stars see high placings

MOSES LAKE – After high finishes at last week’s Golden Glove tournaments in Yakima, the 10U Moses Lake All-Stars (Gold) and 11U Moses Lake All-Stars get ready to travel to the North Washington State Tournament next weekend.

The 11U All-Stars took second place in their bracket at the Golden Glove tournament, while the 10U All-Stars won the 10U bracket.

“To come full circle and finally get into and win our first championship game was pretty special,” 10U All-Stars Head Coach Sam Boruff said. “Just shows the dedication that these kids (have).”

For the 11U All-Stars, Moses Lake won the North Washington title as 9U and 10U teams.

“We’re excited for state,” 11U All-Stars Head Coach Keller said. “We’ve been learning – with some new guys to the team and some guys from the World Series team – we’re learning how to play together. We’ve had one third and three second-place finishes so far, so we’re really excited to get into the ring of this state tournament and see what happens.”

Now with two years of playing in Cal Ripken state and regional tournaments, as well as last year’s 10U World Series, Keller said the focus for the 11U All-Stars is to win the first game of the tournament. As a 9U team, Moses Lake had to bounce back from an early loss and played three games on the final day of the tournament to win the title.

“That is very tough, so we want to be ready for the first one,” Keller said.

The 10U Moses Lake All-Stars competed in last year’s state tournament but bowed out after three losses. With the experience of last year’s tournament, as well as the recept boost of being champions of the 10U Golden Glove tournament, Boruff said this year’s squad has some more “confidence.”

“It’s not hitting home runs or anything, it’s making the routine play,” Boruff said. “That was a learning experience. I’m excited to go give it another shot after all the growth. These boys have been working since October, up at The Six during the winter. Through league and now all-stars, so they’ve had a lot of baseball under their belt.”

While the 10U All-Star’s tournament run included numerous dazzling plays, Boruff said one between second baseman Olie Valdez and catcher Aidren Martinez stood out the most.

“The catcher has to throw it and the second baseman has to spring in and catch it, and he has to throw it back to the catcher to tag them out,” Boruff said. “We executed it, and it was a really cool moment. That’s stuff that we were learning in high school, but at 10 years old to implement that in practice just the week before – it got the team going.”

Keller said the 11U All-Stars practiced in East Wenatchee in preparation of next week’s state tournament.

“(It helps to know) the playing surface, the surroundings,” Keller said. “They’re 11 years old, so they want to know how far the fence is. Just to get that initial out of it.”

The 9U and 10U North Washington State Tournament is held in Wenatchee, and the 11U tournament is held in East Wenatchee. Games begin next Thursday and run through next Sunday.

Ian Bivona may be reached at ibivona@columbiabasinherald.com.