‘We had baserunners in traffic all night’

SPOKANE – The Almira/Coulee-Hartline Senior Legion baseball team locked up a berth in the AA State Tournament with a fourth-place finish in the Area 3 AA district tournament over the weekend, where they went 4-1 in games to reach next week’s state competition.

ACH opened the tournament with two wins in pool play on Wednesday, defeating the CDA Lumbermen 8-0 and Mt. Spokane 8-1.

“I thought our pitching was outstanding that day,” head coach Mike Correia said. “We gave up one run in two games combined; we made some good defensive plays as well, but we didn’t give them any free passes.”

After advancing in pool play the Warriors took on Palouse AA at their home stadium in Hartline, where they trailed by as many as five runs through the three innings.

“Everything that could go wrong was going wrong,” Correia said. “We had a few walks, and behind that our defense wasn’t making plays and it just snowballed.”

The Warrior offense came alive in the bottom of the fifth inning, tying the game at five with RBI by catcher Grayson Beal, first baseman Josh Booker and right fielder Hunter Flaa.

ACH took its first lead of the game with a three-run bottom of the sixth featuring RBI by shortstop Caden Correia and Beal, which Palouse responded to by forcing extra innings after tying the game in the top of the seventh. Beal walked the game off in the bottom of the eighth, sending home center fielder Harvest Parrish with a line drive to right field with two outs on the board.

“The guys got back into it — we took a three-run lead and to (Palouse’s) credit, they clawed their way back in and tied it 8-8,” Mike said. “In extras, we were able to hold them and then score that one run.”

The first loss of the summer came in the district semifinals to Asotin County — the Warriors took a 4-0 lead in the top of the first inning, but the Blues rallied with three-run first and fourth innings, scratching across an additional two runners in the bottom of the sixth to claim an 8-4 win over ACH.

ACH committed four errors in the loss.

“That first inning we hit the ball great,” Mike said. “We had baserunners in traffic all night, but after that first inning, we couldn’t push anybody across … Asotin’s a very good team, but we had our chances. When you’re playing against really good teams, you can’t afford to make those two or three mistakes that come back to haunt you.”

Despite the loss, ACH had a chance to claim a top-four seed out of Area 3 with a Sunday morning game against Northwest Christian, where the Warriors won 12-3. Pacing the Warriors at the plate was Caden, who picked up three hits, along with Booker and designated hitter Max Grindy, who both drove in three runs.

“We talked about it all Saturday night — we’ve just got to put (the loss) behind us, because it’s over and we’ve got to get ready for the next day,” Mike said. “The kids showed up with a lot more energy and enthusiasm and focus.”

The Warriors were set to have another game on Sunday evening, but the game was pushed back due to a high heat index affecting the Spokane area. Rather than playing the game on Moncay ACH elected to forfeit the game, receiving the No. 4 seed out of the tournament.

The AA State Tournament runs from Saturday through Aug. 1 at Al K. Jackson Field and University High School in Spokane. ACH took second in the Single-A State Tournament last summer, but this tournament brings a different set of challenges.

“You have to be able to execute when it’s time to do certain things,” Mike said. “... At the Single-A level, we were able to make a few mistakes and get away with it — here, just at a higher level, you can’t do that. Especially at the state tournament.”

ACH begins the state tournament against the Lynden Lightning at 3 p.m. Saturday at University High School.

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

    ACH shortstop Caden Correia records a hit during a July 12 game against Gonzaga Prep in Hartline. Correia had three hits in Sunday’s game against Northwest Christian.