‘Sorta numb’

Sonics’ title seemed surreal at the time,
similar feelings surround team’s departure ||

YAKIMA, Wash. — It didn’t seem real.

There we were, thousands of feet above the ground on a chartered airliner, less than 24 hours after the most significant triumph in Seattle sports history, and time seemed to be standing as still as the quilt-like Midwestern fields below.

Had this actually happened? Had the Sonics really beaten the Washington Bullets the previous night in Landover, Md., securing their first NBA championship?

The team — Gus Williams, Fred Brown, Jack Sikma and friends — was deservedly flying first class. The rest of us, a large group of fans and Sonics staffers plus a handful of Pacific Northwest media, were also aboard, sharing the ride and the moment.

It was June 2, 1979, and not a single one of us knew that on the 30th anniversary of the team’s finest hour, the team itself would no longer exist.

Even then, the whole thing seemed surreal.

Until, that is, the ubiquitous Bill “The Beerman” Scott would stand and yell, “Give me an S!”, thereby initiating one of many Sonic spellouts that took place during the six-plus-hour flight.

Sikma, then a 23-year-old who’d just finished his second pro season out of tiny Illinois Wesleyan, strolled down the aisle with a beer in his hand and a bag under each eye. It’s likely he hadn’t slept since Game 5, a fiercely-fought 97-93 Seattle victory that ended amid eerie silence before 19,035 at the cavernous Capital Centre.

Having hammered out a fast 10-paragraph story for East Coast morning papers served by Gannett News Service, I headed down a corridor toward the Sonics locker room. On the way I passed a limping Wes Unseld, his jersey dripping with sweat.

On opening the door I was greeted by a champagne-bottle wielding Paul Silas, who hit me right between the eyes with its shaken contents. “Congratulations, Paul,” I said, extending one hand while wiping my face with the other.

Then I noticed Unseld, and held the door open.

“Thank you,” he said quietly.

In he walked slowly, and embraced Silas. The long hug was followed by a solemn handshake. No words.

Then Unseld, voted the Finals’ MVP the previous year after leading the Bullets to a seven-game triumph over Seattle, which then had Marvin Webster, sought out Sikma.

As imposing as the burly center had been the previous year against the 7-foot Webster (Unseld was listed at 6-7 but was closer to 6-5), he had been dominated by the younger, taller Sikma.

After a 99-97 opening-game loss, Sikma had recorded rebounding totals of 13, 17, 17 and 17 in the Sonics’ victories — all of which had come by fewer than 10 points.

Though their low-block battles had been especially physical, they had also been clean. Elbows were exchanged, but no harsh words.

“Jack,” Unseld said to a shirtless, champagne-soaked Sikma, who had his back turned. Sikma pivoted, saw Unseld and another embrace followed. Unseld said something to Sikma, who wiped the liquid — alcohol or otherwise — from his face and said, “Thanks, Wes. I appreciate that.”

Most of us among the press corps — Georg N. Meyers and Greg Heberlein from The Seattle Times, John Owen and John Engstrom of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Art Thiel and Bart Wright of the Bellevue Journal-American, Curt Beard of the Everett Herald, Bill Schey of the Tacoma News-Tribune and myself, from the Daily Olympian — were attempting to capture the ride home on our portable typewriters. No laptops back then.

I glanced up and saw Sikma looking over my shoulder.

Turning back to the blank sheet of paper on my Smith-Corona, I said, “Any suggestions, Jack? What do you think about all this?”

Smiling and looking about the plane, Sikma said, “Geez, I’m not sure. I’ve never really had an experience to compare it with. I mean, we went through this last year, but lost. So this is really different.”

Then, with a glance out the window, he said, “It’ll probably hit me in a couple of days, but right now I just feel sorta numb.”

Sort of like I do now — 30 years after the Sonics’ only championship, and still trying to comprehend that they’re gone.

• Roger Underwood can be reached at 509-577-7694 or runderwood@yakimaherald.com

Beaman takes checkers in Super Stocks

YAKIMA, Wash. — With track temperatures well into the triple digits, tempers boiled over on Saturday at Yakima Speedway.

In the Super Streets division, Zack Beaman won the 30-lap main event marred by black flags and racing penalties for aggressive driving. Andy Beaman and Dusty John won the heat races, while Andy Beaman and Mike Easley won the trophy dashes. Chet Beaman Sr. set the fast time with a 21.506-second lap of the half-mile oval.

In the Pure Stock division, Jeff Liebert came from fifth-place on a late restart to take over the lead for the final two laps and the victory. Ron Pepper set the fast time with a 24.771-second lap, while Jay Younker won the heat race and Terry Cook and Liebert took the trophy dashes.

Greg Gargett won his second consecutive Hornet division main event. He led the last 18 laps of the 20-lap event. Eric Coble and Gargett won the trophy dashes, while Josh Parmentier and Josh Washington won the heat races.

Kyler Condruff swept the Youth Hornet class, winning the dash, heat and leading every lap of the main event.

Donnie Stevens won the Bump to Pass main, while Jake Breshears won the dash and Kyle Wade won the heat.

Next up at the Speedway is the ASA Northwest Late Model Tour’s Better-All Auto Sales 125 on Saturday. More information is available at www.yakimaspeedway.us.

SATURDAY’S RESULTS
Super Streets

Fast time: Chet Beaman Sr., 21.506 seconds. A dash: Mike Easley, Gary Flammang, C. Beaman, Ben St. Mary. B dash: Andy Beaman, Todd Connell, Tony Huffines, Ken Mullins. A heat: Dusty John, St. Mary, Flammang, C. Beaman, Easley. B heat: A. Beaman, Zack Beaman, Huffines, Connell, Mullins. Main: Z. Beaman, Flammang, A. Beaman, C. Beaman, St. Mary, Huffines, John, Easley. Lap leaders: Huffines 1-8, Z. Beaman 9-30.

Pure Stocks

Fast time: Ron Pepper, 24.771. A dash: Jeff Liebert, Jay Younker, Pepper, Joe Estep. B dash: Terry Cook, Rob Allen, Daniel Coble, Derek Raptcheff. Heat: Younker, Estep, Allen, Raptcheff, Liebert. Main: Mike Hill, Liebert, Estep, Pepper, Cook, Allen, Raptcheff, Younker, Coble. Lap leaders: Younker 1-17, Hill 18, Liebert 19-23, Hill 24-25.

Hornets

A dash: Greg Gargett, Josh Washington, Josh Parmentier, Ryan Kellenberger. B dash: Eric Coble, Tyler Breshears, Chris Marang, Milo John. A heat: Washington, Gargett, Kellenberger, Breshears, Keith Erickson. B heat: Parmentier, Coble, Jessica Tidrick, Morgan Morrison, Breshears. Main: Gargett, Kallenberger, Washington, Breshears, Coble, Erickson, Morrison, Michael Beck, Parmentier, Marang, Breshears. Lap leaders: Tidrick 1-2, Gargett 3-20.

Youth Hornets

Dash: Kyler Conduff, Joe Roberts, Christian Hall, Julie Melville. Heat: Conduff, Roberts, Hall, Melville. Main: Conduff, Hall, Roberts, Melville. Lap leaders: Conduff 1-15.

Bump to Pass

Dash: Jake Breshears, Crystal Richter, Joe Stevens, Kyle Wade. Heat: Wade, Breshears, Richter, J. Stevens. Main: Donnie Stevens, Richter, Breshears, J. Stevens. Lap leaders: Breshears 1-7, D. Stevens 8-15.

DRAG RACING

Herbst wins at Renegade

WAPATO — Shawn Herbst of Selah won the Super Pro division of the Summit Series on Saturday at Renegade Raceway.

Rick Jarnecke (Pro), Bobbie Claphan (Sportsman) and Courtney Widhalm (Junior Dragster) also won their classifications.

Robert Storm (Sport Compact), Reney Lange (Street Legal), Rob Kennard (Pro Street) and Casey Reed (Mopar) won their Street Legal divisions on Friday.

SUMMIT SERIES

Saturday’s results

Junior Dragster: 1, Courtney Widhalm (Yakima) 7.94-dial in, 7.963 ET, 82.01 mph; 2, Jordan Stewart (Richland) 7.90, 7.899, 82.78; 3, Layne Linder (Outlook) 8.95, 8.994, 73.51; 4, Ryan Widhalm (Yakima) 9.09, 9.039, 71.36.

Sportsman: 1, Bobbie Claphan (Richland) 13.45-dial in, 13.501 ET, 97.92 mph; 2, Vern Widhalm (Wenatchee) 17.13, 17.246, 78.58; 3, Steve Johnson (Ellensburg) 13.49, 13.564, 98.80.

Pro: 1, Rick Jarnecke (Wapato) 11.05-dial in, 10.949 ET, 123.89 mph; 2, Patrick Neveu (Yakima) 10.63, 27.353, 38.68; 3, Steve Crow (Paterson) 11.29, 11.252, 117.17.

Super Pro: 1, Shawn Herbst (Selah) 10.89-dial in, 10.870 ET, 141.77 mph; 2, Don Asbury (Yakima) 11.15, 11.102, 120.69; 3, Doug Widhalm (Yakima) 8.60, 8.654, 159.63.

STREET LEGAL DRAGS
Friday’s results

Sport Compact: 1, Robert Storm (Moxee) 13.99-dial in, 14.045 ET, 95.07 mph; 2, David Landa (Prosser) 11.79, 11.907, 115.99; 3, Keith Brinkman (Eagle Pt, Ore.) 17.91, 17.692, 77.90.

Street Legal: 1, Reney Lange (Selah) 13.94-dial in, 13.957 ET, 96.12 mph; 2, Grant Crosswhite (Moxee) 13.65, 13.687, 98.87; 3, Steve Stormo (Cle Elum) 13.15, 15.157, 99.42.

Pro Street: 1, Rob Kennard (Tieton) 11.08-dial in, 11.092 ET, 121.72 mph; 2, Bob Bundy (Yakima) 12.14, 12.110, 110.26; 3, Roy Garza (Wapato) 12.52, 12.617, 105.21.

Mopar: 1, Casey Reed (Ravensdale) 17.68-dial in, 17.937 ET, 64.31 mph; 2, Forrest Fincher (Pasco) 10.78, 11.490, 121.34; 3, Mark McKenna (Yakima) 11.45, 11.428, 116.83.

All Run: 1, Shawn Herbst (Selah); 2, Roy E Macomber (Selah).

STATE FAIR RACEWAY

Shoemaker claims Stock Car main

Blair Shoemaker won the Stock Car main event at the State Fair Park Raceway on May 23.

Bobby Trujillo won the Bump to Pass main, while Scott Miller won the Modified main and Sylvia Stahl took the Hornets main.

Racing resumes at the dirt track on Saturday at 5:30 p.m.

May 23 results

Stock Car main: Blair Shoemaker, John Raney, James Emmons, Patrick Donaldson, Les Sutton, Dylan Dow, Vaile Thompson, Daric Shoemaker, Steve Latt, Josh Primer, Larry Tracy, No. 64 (name unavailable), Mark Spittlemeister.

Bump to Pass main: Bobby Trujillo, Rich Strmiska, Merle Sliltner, Mark Mager, Jeremy Gruenberg, Peppie Rojas.

Modified main: Scott Miller, Blair Shoemaker, Duane D’Amico, (first name unavailable) Burns, Rick Sjogren, Pat Merritt.

Hornets main: Sylvia Stahl, Austin Stahl, Mark Brown, Wayne Griffith, Kristi Tracy, No. 5 (name unavailable).

Cadet Club swept by Walla Walla

YAKIMA, Wash. — The Cadet Baseball Club opened their season with a pair of losses in a doubleheader with the Walla Walla Griz on Sunday.

Walla Walla won the first game 15-0 and the second 7-5.

Andre Arcand of the Cadets had five hits in the doubleheader, while Brian Griffith has a pair of doubles in the second game.

BASEBALL: Redemption for Rangers

Third time is the charm as Naches Valley earns Class 1A title ||

YAKIMA, Wash. — So they made four errors, including three during a perilous second inning in which it must have seemed to some that the sky was once again falling on the Naches Valley Rangers.

But guess what?

This NV team, anchored by a corps of five seniors who had endured the agony of defeat in the most cruel extreme two years ago, and had again fallen short in the Class 1A final four last season, responded.

This NV team made a monstrous play to limit damage in the aforementioned frame, then scored six times in its half of the inning.

This NV team would produce two more gigantic defensive gems, and it would fight through one last bobble to leave the tying run at second base in the last inning and then experience the euphoria of dogpiling on the pitcher’s mound — a ritual reserved for champions only.

“It feels … exhilarating,” Ethan Flory said once the initial celebration of the Rangers’ 8-6 state title conquest of Kalama had subsided at Yakima County Stadium.

“That’s a good way to put it,” said fellow senior Adam Ranger, his sweat-soaked jersey and ear-to-ear smile matching Flory’s.

Vindicating, perhaps, too.

Because in the 2007 title game against Chimacum at Wenatchee, Naches Valley was within one out of the championship only to have an error allow the tying run to score, and the Cowboys went on to a 4-2 win.

“You’ll notice that in this game, after we made those three errors, we came right back and scored six,” said coach Bill Walker. “And in the seventh, after J.R. Weigel (NV shortstop) short-armed the ball a little bit on a play that could easily have been a base hit, he wanted the next one.

“That’s the way this team has fought back from ‘07. We talk about ‘07.”

Now they’ll talk about how pitcher Thomas Wilcox fielded a popped-up suicide squeeze bunt with the bases loaded and one out in the second, then calmly threw to Chris Walker at third for a rally-killing double play.

They’ll talk about how after Kalama’s Nick LaRoy, a left-handed pitching phenom who had no-hit the Rangers in last year’s semifinal, singled and stole second to represent the tying in the fifth. And of how Flory ran down a fly ball in right-center, then fired a laser to cut down the fleet-footed LaRoy at third for another DP.

And they’ll talk about how the Chinooks put runners at second and third with one out in the sixth, only to have Weigel field a grounder and look the runner back to third, then throw to Ranger at first. Ranger, then, saw the runner break from third and threw home to catcher Brandon Gillespie, who tagged him out in a rundown.

Failure to complete any of those plays might have swung the balance decisively in Kalama’s favor.

It might have rendered moot Naches Valley’s 11-batter, five-hit second in which No. 9-hitter Cody Johns executed a textbook suicide squeeze bunt to score one run, Flory singled to bring home another and Wilcox doubled to plate two more.

Then, after coming up empty on scoring chances in the fourth and fifth, the Rangers got their final two on an RBI double by Gillespie and a run-scoring single by Ranger in the seventh.

Wilcox, at 2-for-3, was the lone NV player with multiple hits while LaRoy was 3-for-3.

Many expected the left-hander to pitch, since he’d served as the designated hitter in Kalama’s 3-0 Friday win over Cashmere.

But after LaRoy, author of three no-hitters and a 21-strikeout game this season, stretched in the Chinooks bullpen, coach Len Hiatt summoned senior right-hander Robby Sanders to warm up. An arm ailment apparently relegated the junior standout, Kalama’s cleanup hitter, to right field.

But none of that matters now.

This NV team might have messed up a few of the little plays Saturday, but it made every big one with uncommon precision and poise.

And it now carries the only title it deserves — that of a state champion.

Kalama                  011    300    1    —    6    12    2
Naches Valley    060    002    0    —    8    9    4
Sanders and McVicker; Wilcox and Gillespie.
Highlights: Robby Sanders (K) HR, RBI; Nick LaRoy 3-4; John Tapley (K) 2-3; Sean McVicker 1-3, RBI; Ethan Flory (NV) RBI; Joe Mills (NV) 1-2, 2 runs; Thomas Wilcox (NV) 2-3, 2 RBI; Brandon Gillespie (NV) 1-3, 2b, RBI; Adam Ranger (NV) RBI; Chris Walker (NV) 1-3; Cody Johns (NV) 1-3, RBI.

THIRD AND FOURTH

CHIMACUM 18, CASHMERE 4: At Yakima County Stadium, Landon Cray and Lucas Dukek each rapped three hits to lead Chimacum to a rout of Cashmere.

Cray, a freshman left-hander, also earned the victory with 51?3 innings on the mound. He struck out five and walked three and surrendered all four Cashmere runs.

But the Cowboys’ offense wouldn’t stop. Chimacum took control of the game with a seven-run fourth inning and erased Cashmere’s comeback hopes with an eight-run seventh inning. John Modispacher highlighted the seventh with a three-run double.

Dukek finished with four RBI, including a two-run single in the fourth, an RBI single in the seventh and an RBI grounder in the first. Chance Eldridge added three RBI.

Trevor Davis led Cashmere with a 3-for-4 performance, and Cory Roberts had a one-out solo homer in the sixth.

Chimacum    300    700    8    —    18    16    2
Cashmere        000    022    0    —    4    8    6
Cray, Q. Eldridge (6) and McConnell; Miller, Tarver (4), Roberts (4), Grams (7) and McNair.

BASEBALL: Rangers will be known as winners

YAKIMA, Wash. — There was more to this happy ending than a reward for running lung-burning wind sprints and enduring the sting of hitting a ball off the end of an aluminum bat on a raw afternoon in March.

For Naches Valley, becoming the Class 1A state baseball champion Saturday reaffirmed the old adage of what goes around comes around.

And while it transformed the program’s two previous final fours into topics which can now be spoken of in lighter tones when the Rangers’ five seniors gather for reunions, it also wrote some Washington state sports history.

Twenty five years ago, the Connell Eagles of coach Bill Walker Sr. beat Meridian 3-2 for the first of two state championships won during Walker’s 35 years as coach.

It also featured a sophomore named Bill Walker Jr.

“Isn’t that something?” the elder Walker said while his son and the Rangers, fresh from their 8-6 defeat of Kalama, happily posed for photos. “Billy was a sophomore on my first championship team and today, here was his son Christopher, a sophomore (and starting third baseman) on his first state championship team.”

So that bit of background made Saturday that much better.

“I’m very proud to have coached a state championship team 25 years after I played on one for my Dad,” the younger Walker said. “But today isn’t really about that.”

True enough.

It’s impossible to imagine the shock, which no doubt morphed into excruciating pain, NV’s seniors felt 24 months ago in Wenatchee.

There they were, a single out from beating Chimacum for Naches Valley’s first state baseball crown since 1991 when assistant coach Del Cruzen ran the program.

Second baseman Thomas Wilcox fielded a grounder that looked to be the final out, but the throw got away from him and first baseman Adam Ranger was unable to knock it down.

The tying run scored, and within minutes, it seemed, the Cowboys had scored twice more, NV was retired in the bottom of the seventh and Walker was struggling to find words for an inquisitive reporter.

A year later the Rangers made it back to the semis, this time in Yakima, but suffered the indignity of being no-hit by Kalama’s Nick LaRoy in a 1-0 loss.

Never mind that LaRoy authored three similar gems this season, and in his most recent such triumph recorded all 21 outs via strikeout.

Another final four for NV, another high-profile failure.

You get the idea.

Wilcox, now a senior, took the ball Saturday and also absorbed a few lumps. He made an error, too.

But when shortstop J.R. Weigel threw to Ranger for the final out, Wilcox was still standing — albeit not for long.

Once he emerged from the much-deserved pitcher’s mound dogpile, Wilcox smiled broadly and spoke quietly.

“This was our plan,” he said. “We’ve worked for this for 12 years, since we all started playing together. We’ve all stuck together.

“And yes, being a state champion does feel pretty good.”

It was a team effort, to use a well-worn cliche, but Naches Valley’s seniors — Wilcox, Ranger, Ethan Flory, Joe Mills and Brandon Gillespie — were more than the five five in Walker’s batting order. They were the cornerstones of this profile in competitive courage.

Had Saturday’s outcome been different, however, they might have been remembered more for not winning the big one than for the remarkable feat of reaching three final fours.

“If we hadn’t won today,” Walker said, “I’d probably argue that point.”

But now he doesn’t have to.

None of the Rangers do, because they’re state champions.

BASEBALL: Selah falls in sloppy title game

YAKIMA, Wash. — Sometimes baseball isn’t pretty. It isn’t always a thing of beauty, of clean pick-ups and crisp throws to first. Sometimes it can be ugly.

But it still counts.

On a day of baseball ugliness — a dozen errors, three hit batsmen, a frustrated catcher ejected for finally commenting to the home plate umpire, “That’s ridiculous” — the Cedarcrest Red Wolves held on for a 10-6 victory over Selah in the Class 2A state baseball championship game.

It marked the fifth time the Vikings have reached the state final only to lose, and made them 0-for-10 in trips to the state’s final four.

“We told the kids, the reason you hurt so bad right now is because you care so much,” Selah coach Mike Archer said after seeing the Vikings’ season end with a 24-2 record. “I’m proud as hell of them. They’re tough guys and they’re taking it hard. And I feel bad for them.”

But the final outcome wasn’t nearly as bad as it could have been after the fourth inning, when the Vikings committed four errors and gave up seven runs. Already down 3-0 after the first inning on Cameron Padron’s bases-clearing double, that put Selah in a 10-0 hole the Vikings couldn’t quite dig themselves out of.

“We gave up that seven-spot, and that hurt,” Archer said. “It would have been nice if we could have done a little bit more damage control there, got out of it with five instead of seven. Then it’s a little closer, maybe a different game.”

As it turned out, the Red Wolves (23-5) were getting primed for a little meltdown of their own, committing five errors in the fifth inning as Selah scored five runs. But the Vikings left the bases loaded that inning, and even though Jake Fife had a huge 4-for-4 night at the plate with a pair of doubles, nobody was ever in scoring position when he came up. And Selah ended up leaving 12 runners on base.

“That was a crazy game,” Cedarcrest coach Scott Goldsberry said. “We made it a little more interesting than we wanted to. As long as I’ve been coach, I can’t remember any of our teams committing eight errors in a game — let along eight errors in a game we won.”

Travis Cook drove in four runs with a pair of doubles for Cedarcrest, while Tommy Edwards had three hits and a pair of runs-batted-in.

“It feels great,” Goldsberry said. “I felt like we had to break through that semifinal-game barrier” — the Red Wolves having lost in both the 2007 and 2008 semifinals — “and once we did it, our guys felt like they had a job to do. And they did it.”

Cedarcrest    300    700    0    —    10    8    8
Selah               001    050    0    —    6    9    1
Padron, Bishop (5) and Chittenden; Windsor, Douglas (4) and Snider, Porter (7).
Highlights: Tommy Edwards (C) 3-4, 2b, 2 RBI; Travis Cook (C) 2-4, 2 2b, 4 RBI; Craig Chittenden (C) 1-3, 2 RBI; Jake Fife (S) 4-4, 2 2b; Stephan Schmidt (S) 1-5, 2b, RBI.

THIRD AND FOURTH

CHEHALIS 13, OTHELLO 6: At Yakima County Stadium, Colton Schoelkopf went 3-for-4 and Kylon Bonagofsky went 3-for-5 as Chehalis beat Othello.

Schoelkopf had an RBI double in the first, and RBI single in the third, an RBI groundout in the fourth and a sacrifice fly in the sixth. Robert Pehl also had four RBI, with a two-run double in the third, an RBI double in the sixth and added his final RBI when he was hit by a pitch in the second with the bases loaded.

Chehalis scored three times in each of the first three innings, added another run in the fourth and three more in the sixth.

Michael Garza homered for Othello to start the second, and Lee Gomez finished 3-for-4 with two doubles and two RBI.

W.F. West    333    103    0    —    13    15    2
Othello           020    400    0    —    6    10    3
Witters, Burgos (3) and Schoelkopf; Suarez, Brunetti (2), Valdez (5) and Valdez, C. Garza (5).

BASEBALL: Rams rebound for third

SEATTLE — A day after a shot at the state title slipped away from the West Valley baseball team, the Rams got the championship match they had expected.

And they made the most of it.

Scoring three runs in the first inning and adding two more in the second, West Valley rode the pitching of junior left-hander Konnor Wyckoff to beat top-ranked Timberline 5-3 to take third place in the Class 2A state tournament at Safeco Field.

“We thought going in that was the championship game — we thought we were better than O’Dea and we thought Timberline was better than Bainbridge,” Rams coach Klayton Wyckoff said.

Konnor Wyckoff was up to the challenge against the powerful Blazers, who had lost just two games prior to Friday. The coach’s nephew spread 11 hits over seven innings, and even in the two innings Timberline scored, he was able pitch himself out of big trouble.

“It’s probably the gutsiest performance I’ve seen,” the coach said. “It was a scattered 11 hits at its best.”

After getting back-to-back singles to start the first inning, West Valley (18-9) took advantage of freshman pitcher Ryne Shelton to score three runs on walks.

The Rams, who had only five hits, added a pair of runs in the second.

Right fielder Kyle Jones went 2 for 4 with an RBI double and scored twice for West Valley. Like O’Dea on Friday, Timberline was careful with Rams slugger Cory Urquhart. The CBBN Cascade Division co-player of the year still managed an RBI single.

The third-place finish matches the third best finish in West Valley history. The Rams were second in 1977 and 2003, and third in 1995. They also finished fourth in 1979.

“It’s a great way to end the season, it’s about the best feeling in the world,” Klayton Wyckoff said. “We obviously gave up our opportunity to take first so we went out there against a great team and knocked them off.”

The coach also noted that Friday’s loss to O’Dea was the only defeat West Valley suffered against a 3A opponent. The Rams finished 7-5 in the 4A-laden CBBN.

Timberline    000    210    0    —    3    11    0
West Valley    320    000    X    —    5    5    0
Shelton, Howard (3) and Talbot. Ko.Wyckoff and Andreas. HHighlights: Cory Urquhart (WV) 1-2, RBI; Kyle Jones (WV) 2-4, 2b, RBI, 2 runs;  Carl Ingram (T) 3-4, 2b, run; Elijah Fiurestone 2-4, RBI; Matthew Hubbard 1-3, 2b, run.

CHAMPIONSHIP

O’DEA 10, BAINBRIDGE 3: At Safeco Field, The Irish used a six-run third inning en routee to their second state baseball championship. Their first came in 2005.

CLASS 4A

CHAMPIONSHIP

RICHLAND 4, PUYALLUP 3: At Safeco Field, the Bombers won their fourth state baseball championship and third in the past five seasons.

BASEBALL: NW Christian rallies for 1st title

YAKIMA, Wash. — Northwest Christian scored four runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to rally past defending champion DeSales 11-10 to win the Class 2B state baseball championship Saturday at Parker Field.

Nick Mailhot drove in the tying and winning runs for the Navigators (24-1), who won their first title in just their second trip to the state final four. The Lacey school placed fourth in last year’s tournament.

The loss denied the Irish (21-5) their 17th state championship.

DeSales put up three runs in its half of the eighth with Richie Westphal driving in two of those.

In the bottom of the inning, Northwest Christian scored its first two runs on a bases-loaded walk and a sacrifice fly.

With two outs and the bases still loaded, Mailhot hit a grounder that bounced over the second baseman’s head  plating two runs.

DeSales                              201    211    03    —    10    11    2
Northwest Christian    410    002    04    —    11    10    2
Wujek, Richard (1), Mata (6) and Richard, Wujek (1); Mailhot, P. Turk (3), Arnold (8) and P. Turk, Thomas (3), P. Turk (8).
Highlights: Matt Wujek (D) 3-3, RBI, BB, HBP; Richie Westphal (D) 1-4, 2 RBI; Rob Groeshell (N) 3-4, 2 RBI.

THIRD AND FOURTH

NAPAVINE 12, ASOTIN 8: At Parker Field, The Tigers clinched third place as Trevor Alexander went 1-for-3 with three RBI.

Napavine had just five hits but took advantage of five Asotin errors and several hit batters.

Zane Earl went 2-for-2 with two walks, two runs and an RBI for Asotin.

Napavine    020    440    2    —    12    6    5
Asotin            002    202    2    —    8    9    5
Cozart and Alexander; Black and Darnall.
Highlights: Cozart (N) 8 K, 3 BB, 1 ER; Trevor Alexander (N) 1-3, 3 RBI; Perry Black (A) 5 K, 9 BB, 3 ER, 5 HBP, 2-3;  Zane Earl (A) 2-2, 2 BB, 2 runs, RBI.

Class 1B Championship

WILBUR-CRESTON 10, TOUCHET 4: At Parker Field, Damon Abel went 2-for-3 with two runs scored and Travis Camp went 2-for-4 with a RBI and two runs scored to lead the Wildcats to their first state baseball championship.

Wilbur-Creston’s previous best finish was fourth in the 1998 Class B tournament.

Abel and Camp were the two pitchers for Wilbur-Creston, limiting the Indians to four runs on nine hits.

Tuff Goble led Touchet with two hits and an RBI.

Touchet                   210    100    0    —    4    9    6
Wilbur-Creston    204    013    x    —    10    8    5
Goble, Cardwell (6) and Byerley; Abel, Camp (6) and Goodman.
Highlights: Damon Abel (WC) 2-3, 2 runs; Travis Camp (WC) 2-4, RBI, 2 runs; David Nichols (WC) 1-4, RBI, 2 runs; Jake Struve (WC) 3 runs; Tuff Goble (T) 2-4, RBI; Cardwell (T) 2-3.

TRACK: A blast for Blanshan

Selah senior wins 100, 200 meters, saves day in 4×100 relay ||

TACOMA, Wash. — Brett Blanshan was so fast on Saturday that he never saw anyone after the gun in the Class 2A finals of the 100- and 200-meters dashes.

They were races of such domination people were left wondering what the Selah senior could do if pressed. The finish of the 4×100 answered that question and brought the big crowd — which had seen all the top 4A and 3A speed kings as well, to its feet in a show of awe and amazement.

Summoning speed his 10.60-second 100 final didn’t even show, Blanshan made up 10 meters on the final leg and leaned passed West Valley-Spokane’s anchor at the finish to win the race by .04. It was a deficit that looked entirely insurmountable — until he took flight.

“At first I thought, no way, it’s too much,” said second-leg Kyle Stone, who ran between Colin Anyan and Brendan Tice. “But then I got a better view and saw him coming. I was like go, go, go — it was amazing.”

With Blanshan’s sprint titles and the 4×100 contributing 30 of 38 points, the Vikings earned a fourth-place trophy, the program’s first in 31 years. In the closest team finish of the six state meets at Mount Tahoma High School, Selah was one point from not getting a trophy and two points from rising to second.

Blanshan clearly had his personal business this week, having false-started out of last year’s 100 prelims and taken second in the 200 by .01, and his double victory had him gushing about exceeding all expectations.

But the 4×100, with three teammates to deliver for and a team trophy on the line, will be his lasting memory. Last year Blanshan couldn’t quite catch Prosser’s Cade Wandling at the end of the same race and Selah missed a trophy by two points.

“When I got the baton and I saw the lead my first thought was it’s a lot but I can get him,” Blanshan said. “I had somebody to catch, and even though you have to dig deep it’s awesome for the team. That hurt last year and we all really wanted this.”

Blanshan’s margins of victory were remarkable — .47 in the 100 (10.60) and .35 in the 200 (21.70). His 100 time was faster than both the 4A and 3A finals.

“A couple guys flinched and I thought there might be a false start,” he said of the 100. “Honestly, after last year, this is the one I really wanted. I was locked in and ready for that race.”

Stone contributed six points by taking third in Friday’s pole vault, but coaches were quick to point out the two points provided by T.J. Hesselgesser’s seventh place in Saturday’s 800. Hesselgesser missed most of the season with a foot fracture and maintained his fitness with pool workouts.

“That was all T.J. He never gave up on the season,” said Selah coach Kelly Mattson. “Take that two points away and we don’t get the trophy.”

The third and final day of 2A competition saw three local runner-up finishes from East Valley’s Jonathan Buchanan and Prosser’s Ana Zapien in the discus and Ellensburg’s Kevin Aubol in the 1,600.

Buchanan and Zapien both gladly accepted second place, but the distances thrown took some of the fun out of it.

A day after his clutch career-best 60-1 1/4 heave to win the shot, Buchanan settled for 159-1 in the discus, 12 feet off his PR. Sehome’s Nelson Westlin, who Buchanan beat in the shot, set a meet record of 172-11.

“It was just an awful day of throwing,” he said. “I wasn’t hitting my power spots. Second doesn’t bother me that much, but not throwing farther does.”

Zapien’s runner-up finish was her second in a row but her effort of 122-8, which she got in the finals to jump from fourth to second, was 13 feet off her PR.

“I actually wanted to throw 140,” she said. “I don’t like to make excuses. It was just me.”

Aubol, on the other hand, was all smiles. Itching to get back to racing after winning Thursday’s 3,200, the Ellensburg senior ran a career best of 4:22.58 a year after placing eighth.

“I’ve been trying to stay in the shade and out of the sun since Thursday,” said Aubol, who plans to run for Willamette in the fall. “I wasn’t sure what I’d have doubling back but I felt good. First and second, I’ll take that.”

If Aubol was pleased, Ellensburg’s girls 4×400 was estatic and nearly in disbelief. McKenzie Graf, Casey Demory, Kylie Granado and Shannon Bland broke the school record in Friday’s prelims and again in Saturday’s finals, placing third in 4:07.79.

“We came in seeded 12th,” Graf smiled. “Third kind of came out of nowhere.”

Other notable efforts Saturday came from Grandview’s Kinzi Poteet, whose fourth-place finish in the discus gave the CWAC a 2-3-4 sweep led by Zapien, and Toppenish freshman Angie Zuniga, who placed fifth in the 100 (12.57) and seventh in the 200 (26.20). Selah’s Kasey Head also collected two medals, placing seventh in the long jump and anchoring the Vikings to seventh in the 4×100.

TRACK: Close shave for Davis’ Contreras

TACOMA, Wash. — Waiting through dozens of races Thursday and Friday for his event toward the end of Saturday’s schedule was too much for Emmanuel Contreras. And his waves of curly hair paid the price.

When the Davis senior stepped to the starting line of the Class 4A 1,600-meter race, he was nearly bald.

“I had to do something to distract me. The waiting was killing me,” Contreras said. “Dimitri (Mandapat) said, ‘Why don’t you get your hair shaved?’ At first I was like, no way, but then I sort of liked the idea. It took a while to find a place that would do it, so it was definitely what I wanted — a distraction.”

Freshly shorn, Contreras finally got his call to the line on Saturday in the late afternoon sun, and his 59-second final lap earned him second place in 4:15.47 behind double distance winner Shane Moskowitz of Central Kitsap.

Contreras found himself in fifth with a lap to go but his speed saved the day.

“When I saw where I was I thought, jeez, I’m really going to have to work this last lap,” he said. “After last week (winning regionals in a school record 4:13.46) I was going for the win. But after seeing Shane win the 3,200 (in 8:59) on Thursday I knew that would be tough.”

Davis’ Sandra Martinez wasn’t looking for distraction over the long three days, just rest.

After placing third in Thursday’s 3,200, she doubled back for sixth in Saturday’s 1,600. Her time of 5:02.48 was the second fastest of her career.

“All in all it was a good week,” said the ever optimistic Martinez. “It was a good double and I’m proud of it.”

Mandapat tied for fourth in the 400, capping his first season running the event.

“When I was younger I didn’t want to go through the pain of the 400,” said the junior, who clocked 49.98. “But now I see it as kind of a man’s race, so I dropped the 100. Plus it’s great to follow the Davis tradition in the 400 with guys like Tahvio Gratton and Craig Everhart.

“Next year I want to come back here and win a state championship like they did.”

Next Page »