Tuesday's 2B Baseball: Adna Tames Wildcats to Reach District Title Game

MOSSYROCK — Pitching and defense carried the day for Adna here on Tuesday as they defeated Ocosta 2-0 to clinch a spot in the District 4 2B baseball tournament championship game on Saturday.

Sawyer Burdick threw a complete game, one-hit shutout against the Wildcats thanks in large part to a parade of flashing leather behind him.

“A couple scoops at first. A couple unbelievable plays at third and one or two at short. They were just good plays,” noted Adna coach Jon Rooklidge.

That defensive show started, but mostly ended, safely inside the trapper of first baseman Chance Fay. Burdick pointed out that with a first rate defense behind him he was more than happy to just pound the zone and let his teammates do what they do best.

“My strategy on the mound is to throw strikes and get them to hit the ball and do exactly what happened today. Let my defense work,” explained Burdick, who struck out just two batters in the otherwise dominant performance. “Chance is just an all natural athlete and is just good at everything he does. He’s one of those baseball players who’s fun to watch and fun to be around.”

Adna’s pitcher from Saturday’s win, Camden Ryan, slotted in at third base on Tuesday and showed no ill-effects from the toll of his complete game effort. His glove was slick and his arm was strong on several plays that took him toward the foul line and required a strong toss across the diamond.

“Camden is not a sore guy and he’s got a good arm from over there,” Rooklidge said.

Burdick agreed with his coach and gave equal credit to a case of good ol’ rubber arm syndrome and the long-awaited arrival of sunny baseball weather.

“When this warm weather comes out he and I just bounce back and come back strong. He was fresh today,” the Pirates’ pitcher explained.

On the flip side, Ocosta had their ace going on the mound and he found plenty of success in a slightly different manner. Cole Hatton pitched six innings, allowing two runs, three hits, and striking out eight Pirates along the way.

Hatton struck out the first four Adna batters he faced before the Pirates were even able to put a ball in play. Adna managed to get on the board in the second inning when Levi Gates singled sharply to right field and wound up on third base when the ball took a huge hop over the right fielders head. Abel Ingle followed suit with a single up the middle to score Gates.

That 1-0 score lasted into the sixth inning when Adna was able to scratch out an insurance run. Chance Fay got on base thanks to a bean ball to start the “rally” before stealing second base and advancing to third on a wild pitch. When that pitch caromed hard off the backstop the Ocosta catcher tried to throw out Fay at third but the throw sailed into left field and Fay trotted home for the score.

Only Gates and Ingle had hits for Adna on the day. Rooklidge said he wasn’t surprised to see the top of his lineup have difficulty squaring up Hatton since the Wildcats’ hurler is a top flight pitcher.

“Their kid is really a good thrower. He is really, really polished and he’s as good as anybody out there,” said Rooklidge. “You’ve got to be able to beat guys like that somehow and with Gates and Ingle, that was about all there was in the game. I think the middle of the lineup just clutched up. I don’t know if there was any adjustment. That’s just a good pitcher and good pitchers do that to good hitters.”

Burdick admitted he was relieved when the offense found a way to generate one more run.

“It helped me a lot to finish off that last inning,” he said.

Likewise, Rooklidge was happy with the performance that Burdick spun together on the mound.

“Sawyer pitched well. Man, hats off to him. It was probably his best performance, hands down, of the season. Just total command. He might’ve had a couple 3-2 counts but I don’t think he walked anybody,” Rooklidge said. “He threw everything with command today. He’s got a good curveball but he had good location on his fastball and that really helped him today. He battled.”

Adna will face Kalama on Saturday at W.F. West at 4 p.m. for the District IV championship. Both teams will advance to the Regional round of the playoffs.

Chinooks Top Rainier to Set Up District Title Tilt Against Adna

MOSSYROCK — Kalama used a pair of big innings and a solid pitching performance from Bradey Vance to put Rainier away 6-1 here on Tuesday in the District 4 2B baseball tournament.

“He’s a guy who hasn’t really pitched in a ballgame for a couple weeks. He’s had some arm issues early on in the season so we’ve been working through that and you know as well as I do that that’s as much mental as physical,” said Kalama coach Brandon Walker of Vance.

The actual results proved to be more than Walker could have hoped for.

Vance tossed 6 ⅓ innings while allowing just two hits and one run to hold the Mountaineers in check. He also struck out seven batters to help salt the victory.

“Today we went into this thing thinking if we can get 60-70 pitches, if you can get 75 out of this thing and finish four or five innings we’ll take it. But then he had that look in his eye, typical senior stuff, where he’s starting to understand the situation,” added Walker. “He wasn’t letting me take him out. I certainly wasn’t going to take him out anyway but he had that look in his eyes like, ‘Let me finish this thing!’ I really wanted that for him but he ran up against the pitch count at the end.”

A pair of errors in the first inning set the Chinooks up for their first three runs when Hayden Wilson drove in two runners with a double and then Alex Dyer brought Wilson home with a sac-fly.

Rainier picked up their lone run in the third inning but the Chinooks added three more runs in the sixth to extend their advantage. Tommy Brandenburg started that inning with a hit before Vance and Dyer reached base on errors that also allowed Brandenburg to scored. Chase Staup brought two runs in later in the inning with a single.

“Offensively we weren’t prefect today but we were putting the ball in play,” said Walker.

The victory pits Kalama against Adna in the district title game on Saturday. Earlier this season the two teams split a pair of games at Lower Columbia College. Adna won the first game 8-6 before the Chinooks stormed back to take the nightcap 11-1.

“Camden Ryan is a stud. Tommy Brandenburg is a stud. It’s going to be a helluva game and I’m looking forward to it. Two aces going at it. Two of the best in the league. It should be a low scoring game and hopefully we bring our sticks along and can jump on them early like we did today,” added Walker. “They certainly aren’t going to give it to us. They’re a team that just doesn’t go away. They are going to continue to put the ball in play and Jon (Rooklidge) is as good of a coach as we have at this level so I know he’s going to have them ready to go.”

Kalama and Adna will play Saturday at 4 p.m. at W.F. West in Chehalis.

Loggers Come Back to Eliminate Napavine

ADNA — Napavine and Onalaska each scored one run in the first seven innings and scored a combined 11 runs in the 10th inning, with the Loggers coming back to earn a 7-6 win in a District 4 2B baseball tournament consolation game here on Tuesday.

Laythan Demarest started on the mound for the Tigers, throwing three innings and allowing three hits, no runs and five walks with two strikeouts. Ben Woodrum pitched six innings in relief, allowing four hits, no earned runs and two walks while striking out seven batters.

At the plate, Dawson Stanley and Seth Bulter were each 2-for-4 with a run and Tristan Ellison was 2-for-4 with two RBI and a run. Braiden Osborn was 2-for-4 with a double and two RBI for Napavine.

Onalaska’s Tristen Lawrence started on the mound, throwing six innings and allowing five hits, one earned run and one walk with three strikeouts.

Kyle Hamilton was 2-for-6 with a double, a run and a RBI and Ashton Haight was 4-for-6 with a double, run and a RBI. Cody Cooper was 2-for-6 with a double, two RBI and a run and Matt Kurzeika was 2-for-5 with a RBI.

The Tigers tallied the first run of the game in the fifth. Osborn hit a double to bring home Gavin Parker.

The lead didn’t last an inning, as the Loggers answered in the bottom of the fifth. Haight hit a double to bring home AJ Volk to tie the game.

Neither team was able to score until the 10th. With the bases loaded and no outs, Demarest scored on a passed ball and Woodrum hit a single to score Stanley. Ellison hit a single to score Butler and Woodrum. Osborn hit a sacrifice fly to score Ellison for a 6-1 lead.

Onalaska rallied in the bottom of the seventh. Cole Christensen hit a double to score Kayden Allison, but the next batter was the second out for the Loggers. Hamilton hit a single to bring home Christensen and after a single, a walk and a single to load the bases, Cooper got on base on an error in centerfield to score two runs. Kurzeika hit a single next to bring home Haight and tie the game at six.

Allison was hit by a pitch to load the bases and Cade Lawrence drew a walk to bring home the game winning run.

“Extremely, very pleased, they never quit,” Onalaska coach Rocky Stanley said. “It’s been a while here (going to regionals). It was really good. I’m really proud of them, we knew it was going to be a battle going in.”

Onalaska has earned a spot in regionals and will face Rainier on Friday at 1 p.m in Adna in the consolation semifinals.

The Tigers end the season 10-9 overall and 7-6 in league games. It was the final prep baseball game for Napavine’s Seth Butler, Jake Darden, Dawson Stanley, Ben Woodrum, Tristan Ellison and Brett Bradshaw.

Mules Kick PWV Out of the Playoffs

ADNA — The Titans ran into a giant killer here Tuesday and it cost them their season. James Anderson of Wahkiakum threw a five-inning one-hitter against Pe Ell-Willapa Valley in a District 4 2B baseball tournament elimination game.

Anderson allowed no earned runs in the game and dialed up strikeouts for 12 of his 15 outs on the day. The wily Mule also added three hits to his cause on offense, drove in two runs and scored two himself.

Wahkiakum put up four runs over the first two innings before the Titans were able to put a run on the board. Max Smith had the Titans only hit on the day. He also scored the only run.

The Mules matched that run in the bottom of the third but in the fourth inning the dam broke with Hunter Hoke still pitching for the Titans. Even after PWV called in Garrett Keeton for relief from the bullpen Wahkiakum piled on 11 runs to put the game out of reach.

Max Smith finished the pitching duties for PWV and struck out the only batter he faced.

Ashden Niemeyer tallied three hits and four RBI for Wahkiakum.

Wahkiakum will play Ocosta on Friday at Adna High School at 3 p.m.