Tigers take a win, a loss and lessons from Johnson-O'Brien Classic

EPHRATA – The Ephrata Tigers hosted several teams from around the state for the Johnson-O-Brien Classic on Friday and Saturday. The Ephrata High varsity team had mixed results with the home team taking down Chelan 8-7 on Friday but suffering a loss to Orting Cardinals on Saturday evening.  

“We got off to a little bit of a slow start (Friday), just, you know, we made some errors early and that led to a couple of their runs,” Tigers head coach David Tempel said. “But in the third inning, we had some guys doing the little things that we needed to do.” 

Tempel said the team became more cohesive, communicative and trusting of one another as the game moved on.  

“It was all those little pieces along the way that were very important, each guy doing his role, not trying to do too much,” the coach said.  

The weekend started off with a highly competitive game as the Tigers went up against the Chelan Goats in the opening game of the tournament Friday at 3 p.m. The Tigers rotated through multiple pitchers with Landen Stephens throwing two innings and only surrendering one earned run, while Caleb Froewiss threw for three innings, giving up only two earned runs. Clayton Wolther stepped in and earned the win for the Tigers by throwing two shutout innings.  

On the offensive side, the Tigers picked up multiple hits with catcher Tavone Mantese and teammates Colin McDonnell and Clayton Wolther swinging for singles. Elijah Davis went 2-for-four with a pair of singles and two RBIs while Tyson Thompson hit a walkoff double which scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh.  

At the bottom of the seventh, with two outs, Davis lined a single to centerfield and advanced to second base due to a Goat error. McDonnel followed with a walk and Wolther struck a single up the middle to bring Davis across home plate to cut Chelan’s lead to 7-5. Owen Coen then got a walk that loaded the bases, and Tyson Thompson laced a double down the right-field line to end the game.  

The second varsity match for the Tigers was the final game of the Classic with the EHS team going up against the Orting Cardinals. The Cardinals took the W with a final score of 10-1.  

Tempel said the team has players with JV and league experience but is lacking on the varsity experience side of the equation.  

“We have some older players, but we don’t have a lot of varsity experience. So, getting into those situations against a little better competition, perhaps, or a little faster pitching, I don’t think we were able to make those adjustments as quickly as we would have hoped,” Tempel said.  

While the Tigers worked to adjust and gel in the game, it was closing the loop on the runs that seemed to pull them back. Ephrata had three hits off the Orting starter with Davis delivering a double, while Mantese and Ryder Mann added singles at the front of the game. However, the Tigers didn’t manage to score their first and only run until the fourth inning. The hope, Tempel said, is to be more nimble and able to adjust to the competition faster as the season moves forward. 

“That’s going to be a big focus, is being able to make those adjustments in the game to what the pitchers are giving us, or to what the hitters are giving us and those types of things,” he said. 

EHS switched out pitchers with Mann throwing for the first three full innings and part of the fourth, surrendering two earned runs and striking out seven Cardinals batters. Tyson Thompson then came on for relief and struck out three Orting players. Ryker Linehan pitched two innings, striking out one opponent.  

While the Tigers may have fallen in the final game of the tournament, it was also a reunion of sorts for Tempel and Orting head baseball coach Jeremy McNinch, a 1999 graduate from EHS who played with Tempel to bring the Tigers to a championship during their time wearing orange and black. 

The last game was a learning experience that Tempel hopes will translate to success.  

“I feel there was a lot of learning that happened in that game, and a lot of lessons we can translate to (wins) down the road,” Tempel said.  

One of those lessons will be on the mound. Tempel said he was really paying attention to the Tigers’ pitching depth during the tournament. With 21 games to go, he wanted to see which pitchers stepped up to the mound with confidence and what their endurance looked like.  

“We kind of had guys on pitch counts a little bit,” Tempel said. “Also, keeping in mind that we have three games (coming up) that we want our arms to be fresh for, so that maybe speaks a little bit to our pitching rotation. As for someone who’s stepping up - (Mann) did a great job Saturday night for three and a third innings. He felt in control of the batters and they scratched the runs against him.” 

    Tiger pitcher Ryder Mann lines up a pitch Saturday in Ephrata’s game against Orting. Mann struck out seven Cardinals players in the game against Orting.
  

    An Ephrata batter follows through on a hit.
  

    Clayton Wolther takes off after a solid swing in the EHS match against the Orting Cardinals.