Babe Ruth 14s: Twin Cities Beat Mount St. Helens, 15-3, for District 3 Title

The hardest part was over by the time the championship game of the 14-year-old District 3 Babe Ruth Baseball Tournament rolled around.

And Twin Cities looked pretty comfortable — having already secured a spot in the state tournament — in a 15-3 title-game win over Mount St. Helens Wednesday night at Chehalis’ Stan Hedwall Park.

The Twin Cities knocked 15 hits, and pitcher Gabe O’Neil allowed just one earned run in the five-inning victory, capping a five-game district tournament run in which the All-Stars won every game via the 10-run rule.

“Today we were just hitting the ball great, and we had pretty good pitching the whole way through,” Twin Cities’ Gabe O’Neil said. “I don’t know. We came out and rolled.”

O’Neil went 3 for 3 at the plate and drove in a run, and worked all five innings on the mound, giving up six hits and striking out two with two walks. He had pitched against Mount St. Helens for an inning during the pool play portion of the tournament, his only other work on the mound during districts.

“I just came out with the same approach,” he said. “Fastballs, mostly. Just tried to blow it by them.”

Twin Cities was coming off of a 25-7 win over South Thurston in the district semifinals, a victory that sealed a trip to the Southern Washington Babe Ruth State Tournament in Richland, starting July 15.

“They were really relaxed today, after we got the first one out of the way,” Twin Cities coach Shawn Jones said. “There was a lot on the line in the first one, and that allowed them to come out here and just have fun, and that’s what they did.”

The fun started in the first inning. After Mount St. Helens put across a run in the top of the first, on a single by Kaleb Rashoff, a walk, and an error on a pickoff attempt, Twin Cities bounced back with a six-hit, seven-run bottom of the first.

Colton Baker led off the first with a triple, Lane Douglass hit an RBI single, Daniel Fagerness singled, Jack Mallonee hit a big two-run triple and Ryan Pedersen hit an RBI triple for the eventual winners in the first frame.

The All-Stars went on to score in every inning, with Gabe Fuller’s triple driving in a run in the bottom of the fourth inning to give the host squad a 10-run advantage and help the game end early.

Baker and Douglass both went 3 for 4 at the plate with two RBIs. Jerod Frias was 1 for 2 with a pair of RBIs, while Mallonee was 2 for 2.

Evan Gootgeld went 2 for 2 for Mount St. Helens, which will also advance to the state tournament in Richland. Ben Woodrum and Gavyn Higdon were each 1 for 1, and Cody Cooper was 1 for 3.

The 14-year-old Southern Washington Babe Ruth State Tournament runs July 15-19 in Richland. Twin Cities will face the runner-up from District 1 at noon on Wednesday in its opener, while Mount St. Helens will play host Richland at 3 p.m. on Wednesday in its first game.

Note: Twin Cities finished second in the 13-year-old state tournament last year, and returns 11 of the 15 players from that team.

Semifinals

Mt. St. Helens 5, Grays Harbor 4

Mount St. Helens made the most of its opportunities to beat Grays Harbor, 5-4, Wednesday afternoon in the 14-year-old District 3 semifinals at Stan Hedwall Park.

The Lewis County squad had just four hits, and trailed 4-1 heading into the bottom of the sixth inning. Mount St. Helens then scored three runs without a hit, using three walks, a hit batter and a pair of errors to tie the game up.

Seth Butler was hit by a pitch to start the bottom of the seventh inning, moved over on a walk, and moved to third on a single by Trevor Minkoff before scoring on a wild pitch to end the game.

Cody Cooper added a triple, and Elmer Loose hit an RBI single for Mount St. Helens. Evan Gootgeld went 1 for 2 with a double.

Twin Cities 25, South Thurston 7

Twin Cities made short work of South Thurston the District 3 semifinals Wednesday, knocking 20 hits in four team at-bats in a 25-7 win over South Thurston.

Brock Jones started on the mound and got the win. Jerod Frias was 3 for 4 at the plate with a double, and Lane Douglass, Robbie Aldrich, Daniel Fagerness, Conner Tardiff, Colby Steele and Gabe O'Neil each had two hits for Twin Cities.