Red Raiders wrap up summer 2024 season

OTHELLO — The Red Raiders saw their season end in last weekend’s AA Area 4 district tournament, falling 12–5 to Hanford after the Flames took a 9–1 lead through the first three innings.

Othello finished the summer with a 10-9 record. 

“Most times we feel pretty good going into games with the guys we have, but we were experiencing some pitching issues and we’d been short-staffed that weekend,” Head Coach Sonny Garza said. “We knew that we had to get ahead of batters early, and we struggled with that early on.” 

Hanford scored four runs in the top of the first inning of Saturday evening’s game, with Othello getting a run back in the bottom of the same inning with a sacrifice fly by shortstop Sonny Salazar. The Flames added five more runs in the top of the third inning, three of which were scored off an Othello error. 

“It’s tough – we talked to the kids early about battling through adversity, ‘We’ve got to try to battle through this and see if we can do it,’” Garza said. “We had a good fight there for a few innings, and then it just kind of slipped away during the middle innings for us.” 

The summer baseball season serves a time for incoming players into the Othello High School baseball program to get a look at what the varsity atmosphere is like, Garza said.  

For the older players on the team, the summer is spent working on their craft and tweaking minor things seen during the spring season. 

“It was a (much) different roster than what we had in the spring,” Garza said. “Just to get those older guys to battle through some of those tough times and get those young guys thrown in the mix is something I felt was really important for us.” 

Those younger players on the Red Raider roster were Noah Ozuna, Julian Ruiz, Jojo Garza, Tyler Suarez and Cain Gonzalez, who all played numerous positions throughout the summer. 

"It was a blessing having a few of those older guys, so that those young kids could learn from them,” Garza said.  

Salazar led the way at the plate this season, recording 23 hits and driving in 23 runs with two homers over Othello’s 19 games. Quade Gonzalez IV followed with 18 hits and 19 RBI this summer, while Kal-El Ozuna was third on the team with 16 hits and 11 RBI. Aaden Montes collected 13 hits with 14 RBI. 

“The amount of baseball they were playing and the repetitions they were getting day in and day out I think is really what was important for those guys,” Garza said. “The more baseball they were able to be a part of really helped them because they got a lot more comfortable with seeing fastballs and seeing off-speed pitches.” 

With the summer season in the rearview mirror, now comes translating the progress made into the spring 2025 high school season. The Huskies went 18-6 in 2024, finishing second in the Central Washington Athletic Conference league standings and reaching the district championship game against Ellensburg. 

“They’ve been playing quite a bit of baseball for some time now, so the break will be good,” Garza said. “We’re just trying to carry over the same momentum that we did in the spring and giving those guys the taste of what it’s going to be like for years to come. We didn’t have the summer that we wanted, but we’re really trying to focus on that spring and carry that forward with us for the next couple of years.”

    Othello outfielder Noah Ozuna makes contact with a pitch against Walla Walla on Friday. Ozuna was one of the many young players on the Red Raider roster this summer, who all got a taste of the varsity baseball atmosphere.
  

    Red Raider second baseman Aaden Montes leads off second base against Walla Walla on Friday. Montes recorded 13 hits with 14 RBI this summer.