2A Baseball: Bearcats Edge River Ridge, 3-1

    The first three Bearcats to step into the batter's box came around to score, and that proved to be all the offense W.F. West would need in a 3-1 win over River Ridge Friday in Evergreen 2A Conference action in Chehalis.

    The win marked the finale of a three-game regular season series with the Hawks, which featured a 9-2 win for W.F. West and a 1-0 loss the next day.

    "I think that's kind of been our struggle. We've been at the top of the league for so long, we've come out and beat teams really well the first time out, and we think, 'Oh, it's the same old River Ridge,'" Bearcat coach Tommy Elder said. "They're not the same old River Ridge. They come out and compete, every pitch. They're just as good as anybody right now."

    Toby Johnson led off the bottom of the first with a double, and scored on the ensuing single from Brody Holcomb. Tanner Gueller knocked a double off the left field wall, pushing Holcomb to third, and Alex Cox's sacrifice fly to center brought Holcomb in.

    Elijah Johnson then singled to right field, scoring Ryan Steepy — courtesy running for Gueller, the catcher — to complete W.F. West's scoring.

    River Ridge pitcher Tyler Ostling settled down after the first frame, facing just 10 batters over the next three innings. The Bearcats loaded the bases with two outs in the fifth, but were unable to come away with anything, and Hayden Dobyns' sixth-inning double was followed by a pair of pop-fly outs.

    "He kept the ball low and got a lot of strikes from it," Elder said. "He did a good job."

    Garrett Yarter worked through the first five innings on just 49 pitches for W.F. West, allowing two hits and a pair of walks with a hit batter, but was removed after leading off the sixth with a base on balls to Ostling.

    "He had a much better outing than last time. He did a little better job of getting ahead of hitters," Elder said of the left-handed sophomore. "He needs to continue to improve with that. He's still a young pitcher, but he does know how to pitch — that's the one quality we like about him, he is a pitcher."

    Anthony Painter closed out the win, giving up two hits — the second of which scored Ostling — in the sixth, and retiring three quick batters on nine pitches to end the game in the seventh.

    The Bearcat defense ended the third and fourth innings with double plays, highlighted by Brody Holcomb catching a fly ball in right field and throwing out a runner trying to tag up to third to finish the third frame.

    "I thought we played very well, and got outs when we needed to get outs," Elder said. "We did good. We played the kind of defense that we needed to play today."

    W.F. West (10-3, 9-3 league) is scheduled to play at league-leading Tumwater on Tuesday.