Tigers, Jacks and Cougars kick off baseball season after snow delay

EPHRATA — The Quincy Jackrabbits and Warden Cougars joined the Ephrata Tigers at home for a baseball tournament to start the season over the weekend. The three teams had the competition delayed after a snowstorm Friday and got back on track Saturday morning, playing in five-inning games. 

“Our players, parents, and coaches, we did a great job getting the field cleared Friday,” said Tigers Head Coach David Tempel. “We got all the snow off Friday by about 5 o’clock and that kind of gave everything a chance to dry, even though it rained overnight and then we were still able to run 13 games on three fields throughout the day Saturday. All the varsity teams that came got their two games in.” 

Ephrata 

The Tigers started Saturday with an early game against St. Bernard's Catholic School, from Eureka, California. The two teams stayed competitive throughout, but St. Bernard claimed a 6-2 victory. The Tigers went on to play Orting later in the day and fell 0-10. 

“It gave us a chance to get some guys in different spots, get some guys on the mound and just be able to get some data and information to make some evaluations about guys and where they currently are,” said Tempel. 

He said that the Tigers executed some early season situational plays such as bunting and making runs on first and third. One thing that the coaching staff saw from this weekend that they want to work on is being more consistent on the mound.  

“Just little stuff that you work on, but until you get live reps against another team, you’re not quite sure where you’re at,” said the Tigers coach. “Lots of teachable moments that we’re going to review this week.” 

Cooper Vasquez has already shown himself to be a standout player for the Tigers this season, Tempel said, coming off a knee injury during the football season and being cleared for full play in the baseball season. Tempel said he has shown great leadership and a strong work ethic for the team in his time as a Tiger. 

Other standout players include Mitchell Johnson and Kai Kaleohano, who the Tigers coach said have put in a lot of time during the offseason and made great progress since last season. 

The main goal for Ephrata this season is to compete and win on every pitch, which comes down to having a strong mindset built on the team, he said. The Tigers are already showing they have the skills to compete in the tough Central Washington Athletic Conference, but they need to have their mental game built up for the long season ahead, he said. 

“Everything matters. How we wear our uniform, how we go about practices, the fundamentals and the details that we focus on, everything matters,” said Tempel. “Just instilling that mindset that there are no small things, everything matters for us and coming out each and every day ready to work is going to be what helps us prepare for a tough league.” 

Quincy 

At 10 a.m. Saturday, the Jacks started their season against Colville and despite a home run late in the game, fell 3-9. Immediately following this Quincy faced St. Bernard’s where they fell 0-6. 

“There is some inexperience with understanding a little bit of the game flow, but for the most part they did well,” said Jacks Head Coach David Garza. “They performed as a team collectively.” 

Garza said he wanted to have both floating and inexperienced players to get some varsity experience Saturday. With this, he saw where the team needs to improve defensively by minimizing errors and offensively where they are working on making more contact. 

Something the Jacks coach said he wants the team to work on is the mental aspect of the game and having the players learn not to let their emotions get ahead of them. 

Quincy has multiple strong returners including Ashton Barnes-Keller, Caleb Kukes, Jace Reyes, Jaxon Porter, Alex Aguilar, Clinton Tuttle, EJ Mora and Mario Santana. Garza said the seniors mixing in with the juniors and underclassmen will be integral to their ability to compete in the Central Washington Athletic Conference this season. 

This is Garza’s first season as the head coach of the Jacks baseball team, and he has coached various varsity and club baseball teams throughout the years.  

The Jacks coach said he is getting the team prepared for the competitive CWAC baseball season and knowing what situations they need to be prepared for. Despite the team’s inexperience, he hopes that they can transition that into experience as the season continues. 

“I really want these guys to understand my care for them is to push them as hard as they can, so they can understand that not only at practice am I trying to push you hard, everything we do at practice is going to prepare you for that game, for that competitiveness,” said Garza. 

Warden 

Warden started their first game a little later in the morning against Northwest Christian and took a 3-12 loss. The Cougars then went on to face Goldendale where they lost 5-16.  

“Not the outcome I expected, but it’s one of those things that it is what it is, but right now it’s just learning,” said Cougars assistant coach Spencer Vela. “Our team is very young, so we have room to improve a lot this season.” 

Vela said Saturday’s games showed them early on some of the mistakes that they made on the field and how they can improve early in the season. The main focus for the Cougars at this point in the season is to work to improve every day.  

The Cougars are entering this season with a new set of coaches, including Vela and the new head coach John Valdez. Valdez is a former baseball player at Warden High School and has had some experience coaching off and on, while Vela did volunteer coaching for youth baseball and helped coach wrestling prior to taking the assistant varsity baseball coach position this season.  

Warden is also starting the season with a very young baseball team, coming in with only two seniors. With the new coaching staff and a young starting lineup, Vela said the main focus has been to take more reps in practice and for the seniors and juniors to use their leadership to build up the underclassmen.  

“We have really good potential there,” said the Cougars coach. “Our team is young, but we’re pretty scrappy for being a young team.” 

BOX SCORES 

GAME ONE 

TIGERS 

STBN: 1-0-2-1-2: 6
EPHT: 1-0-0-1-0: 2 

JACKS 

CLVL: 0-3-0-3-3: 9
QNCY: 0-0-0-0-3: 3 

COUGARS 

WRDN: 1-0-2-0-0: 3
NRTH: 6-3-2-1: 12 

GAME TWO  

TIGERS 

ORTG: 3-0-5-1-1: 10
EPHT: 0-0-0-0-0: 0 

JACKS 

STBN: 3-2-1-0-x: 6
QNCY: 0-0-0-0-x: 0 

COUGARS 

GLDN: 1-1-14-0-x: 16
WRDN: 3-0-2-x-x: 5 

    Quincy’s Jace Reyes (13) makes his way over to his teammates waiting at home plate following his home run hit during Saturday’s game against Colville.
  

    Danny Martinez from Warden hits the ball during the first inning against Northwest Christian Saturday morning.
  

    Ephrata’s Mitchell Johnson runs toward first after making a hit during Saturday’s game against St. Bernard's Catholic School.
  

    Jaxon Porter from the Jacks prepares to throw the ball to first base to get the Colville runner out.
  

    Cougars players and coaches wait inside the dugout as Northwest Christian takes to the field to warm up for a cold Saturday morning game.