Mavs fall to West Valley in regular-season finale

MOSES LAKE – The Mavs will now have to play on the road in next week’s 2023 Columbia Basin Big-Nine tournament, having fallen to West Valley (Yakima) 7-0 and 5-1 in Friday afternoon’s doubleheader.

Moses Lake was charged with 10 errors across both games on Friday, allowing the Rams to score runs and build leads in both games.

“It kind of snowballed,” Moses Lake Head Coach Donnie Lindgren said. “Just like if we had got a single, double, single, single – it was error here, then error there. Then everyone was playing on their heels and trying to do too much. They’ve made the plays all year long, and they’ve been outstanding. Unfortunately, we just didn’t have it this day.”

The losses come off the heels of Tuesday’s 8-0 road loss to the Rams. Going back to the nightcap of the April 28 road doubleheader against Wenatchee, the Mavs have only scored one run in their previous four games.

Lindgren said not getting runners on base early in the inning was the reason for the Moses Lake scoring struggles.

“I think we’re trying to do too much,” he said. “Everyone’s trying to be the hero, and the biggest problem is that we don’t get our leadoff guy on (base) in any inning. We can’t put our offensive game plan in motion, whether it’s small ball or stealing bases. We end up getting guys in scoring position with two outs, so it takes a clutch base hit, and we just didn’t have it clutched up against these guys. They’ve got some great pitching, two guys going Division 1 and a third one that could probably be the same way. It’s tough to hit off those guys.”

The Mavs now face a feeling of deja vu, having been swept by West Valley during the 2022 season before facing off against the Rams in last year’s district title game. There Moses Lake won 6-3 over the Rams, something they hope to do again on Friday in Yakima.

“Same thing as last year,” Lindgren said. “I’m not taking away from any of the other teams in our league, but the last two years we’ve been the best two teams. They’ve gotten the best of us in (the regular season), and we were lucky enough to squeak by them in the district championship last year. Hopefully, we can do the same thing, but that’s an awfully good team.”

If the Mavs fall on Friday they will host the winner of Friday’s matchup between Eastmont and Davis on Saturday.

“Hopefully we got that out of our system and we can keep playing better and better next week,” Lindgren said.

In between Friday’s games, the Mavs honored the nine seniors on their roster; Blaine Macdonald, Zane Harden, Drew Greninger, Braeden Anderson, Kaiden Valdez, Martin Garcia, Michael Getzinger, Josh West and Peyton Juarez. Each player received a cowboy hat with the team insignia printed on the front, along with a baseball bat commemorating their time in the maroon and gold.

“It’s really bittersweet to see them go out and not get a league championship,” Lindgren said. “Hopefully we play better next week and come out with a district championship, but no matter what happens, they’re exactly what Moses Lake Maverick baseball is. They work hard, they have fun. I said it (at the senior ceremony), ‘They’re just a bunch of hicks from the sticks and like to have fun playing a game.’ They mean a lot to this program.”

Lindgren said the cowboy hats were also given out at last year’s senior night, a nod at the team’s fondness of pick-up trucks, country music and cowboy boots.

“I think every player last year had a lifted truck and they’d come in and be playing cowboy music,” Lindgren joked. “They’d wear their boots to the game, they didn’t have turf shoes. They started the whole ‘hicks from the sticks’ thing, and it carried over to these guys.”

First pitch between the Mavs and Rams is at 5 p.m. on Friday in Yakima.

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

Box Scores

Game One

WV: 1-2-2-2-0-0-0 7

ML: 0-0-0-0-0-0-0 0

Game Two

WV: 1-3-0-0-0-1-0 5

ML: 0-0-0-0-0-0-1 1