Centralia's Christian Peters celebrates after the Tigers defeated Liberty 6-2 in the Class 2A state baseball semifinal on Friday, May 29, 2015, at Yakima County Stadium in Yakima, Wash.
Centralia shortstop Nolan Wasson throws to first base for the double play as Liberty's Alex Olague slides into second during the team's Class 2A state baseball semifinal on Friday, May 29, 2015, at Yakima County Stadium in Yakima, Wash.
YAKIMA — The Tigers are on a roll.
Playing on the state’s biggest stage, Centralia wasted little time building a lead and then holding off Liberty for a 6-2 win in the semifinals of the State 2A Baseball Tournament.
The win puts Centralia (18-7) in today’s championship game, with a 7 p.m. date with Selah at Yakima’s County Stadium.
“They continue to amaze me,” Tiger coach Rex Ashmore said of his team. “It was something to just sit back and watch them play baseball today.”
Christian Peters worked all seven innings for the Tigers, striking out six with four walks and six hits allowed. He kept the Patriots, out of Issaquah, scoreless until the sixth inning.
“He did what he’s done lately. He was locating his fastball, and on the defensive end, we committed two errors but we had some huge plays,” Ashmore said. “With our pitching staff, we’ve got to play defense, and they’re just getting it done, defensively.”
Shortstop Nolan Wasson and second baseman Max Dulin, Ashmore added, both played outstanding defense.
Centralia, meanwhile, got on the board early. Gavin Kerner singled in the first inning, stole second and came home on a sacrifice fly from Drew Fagerness.
The Tigers then tacked on 3 runs in the third inning, on a single from Jake Sutton, an RBI single by Peters and a run-scoring fielder’s choice ball by Jacob Monohon.
The 4-0 lead held until the sixth, when Dulin, Kerner and Sutton started things off with singles and Monohon added an RBI double to push the advantage to 6-0.
Liberty knocked three of its six hits in the final two innings to plate its two runs.
Kerner finished 3 for 4 at the plate, while Sutton, Peters and Hodges Bailey were each 2 for 4.
Torey Anderson went 2 for 4 for Liberty.
Centralia secured its most successful finish since 1993 — when the Tigers won the state championship, with future MLB star Lyle Overbay in the lineup — with the victory.
Jake Sutton, a senior right-hander, will start on the bump for Centralia today against Selah.
“We know we’re going to have to execute. They’ll bunt, hit and run, they’re going to play baseball, and we just have to be ready for it,” Ashmore said of Selah. “We heard it about Archbishop Murphy, we heard it about Fife, and we heard it about Liberty. We just have to execute, not only defensively, but offensively.”
The Tigers finished in a tie with Tumwater for first in the Evergreen 2A Conference, with a 6-3 league record. Centralia then took second, to Tumwater, in the District 4 tournament before beating Archbishop Murphy and No. 2-ranked Fife in the regional playoffs in Tacoma.
“I think we’ve got a good shot, if we go out and play baseball like we have the last two weekends, and even in the district tournament,” Ashmore said. “If we do those things we’ve been doing, we’ve got a shot.”
