Baseball: Camas muscles past WV

YAKIMA, Wash. — Klayton Wyckoff is well-versed in both baseball and coaching, since he played for the same West Valley program he has led for past nine years. And he realizes that a team’s fate is sometimes sealed by factors over which it has no control.

Such as Saturday’s first-round Class 3A state tournament game at Yakima County Stadium, in which the Rams were overrun 13-2 by Camas.

“They’re big, they’re strong and they’re athletic,” Wyckoff said of the sixth-ranked Papermakers, who ended West Valley’s season at 17-10. “Those are things you can’t coach. You can make them better baseball players, which they obviously have done, too. They’re just a really good team.”

West Valley High School's Tyler Gallaway singles out in a May 22, 2010 game against Camas High School which West Valley lost 13-2. (Gordon King/Yakima Herald-Republic)

Good enough to have pounded out 14 hits off four WV pitchers, including two-run homers by Kurt Yinger and Drew Drlik. Yinger’s was an opposite-field, wind-blown blow that wrapped around the right-field foul pole at the 293 foot mark, but Drlik’s was a shot that cleared the wall in left-center despite bucking a strong left-to-right crosswind.

The latter blast also ignited a six-run second inning for Camas (18-7), which scored in every frame but the first, and each starter had at least one hit and scored at least one run.

Pitcher Taylor Williams, meanwhile, scattered seven hits while striking out six. Over one span through the early innings the senior right-hander threw 17 consecutive strikes, and he also capped Camas’ scoring with a two-run single in the fifth.

West Valley had a chance to score first, however.

Leadoff singles by Tyler Gallaway and Casey Croshaw were followed by Gilbert Plath’s fly to center that was lost in the sun. Camas’ Derek Atkinson recovered quickly, though, and his relay to the second baseman and then to the catcher got Gallaway at the plate.

The Rams did get on the board in the third on Garrett Olsen’s two-run double to the gap in left-center, and West Valley loaded the bases in the sixth but didn’t score.

“We battled,” Wyckoff said. “We had our chances. But one of the things we talked about was that in a game like this against a quality opponent like this you have to stay away from the big inning, and they put up six on us.”

Ultimately, Wyckoff said, the Rams were simply beaten by a superior opponent as evidenced by Camas’ later 5-3 defeat of Ferndale that sends the Papermakers to the state semifinals next Saturday at Safeco Field.

But also, West Valley was a team that had clearly overachieved.

“Credit to them,” he said, “there’s no doubt in my mind that they were the better team. But we had a great season, too.

“To be two games away from Safeco Field again (West Valley finished third last season) is saying something, especially for a team that had two position players and one pitcher back from the year before. This team did some very impressive things.”

Camas 13, West Valley 2

West Valley    002    000    0    —    2    7    3
Camas             062    221    x    —    13    14    1

Wyckoff, Vetsch (2), Wagar (5), Hinton (6) and Dusin; Williams and Drlik.

Highlights: Tyler Gallaway (WV) 2-4; Garrett Olsen (WV) 1-3, 2b, 2 RBI; Gilbert Plath (WV) 1-3; Steven Wagar (WV) 1-3, 2b; Jacob Nell (WV) 1-3; Caleb Malychewski (C) 3-5; Derek Atkinson (C) 3-5, 2 RBI; Taylor Williams (C) 2-4, 2 RBI; Kurt Yinger (C) HR, 2 RBI; Drew Drlik (C) HR, 2 RBI.

Ferndale 4, Hanford 1

Ferndale    040    000    0    —    4    9    0
Hanford     010    000    0    —    1    9    2

Je. Frost and Ja. Frost; Scheibe and Synoground.

CHAMPIONSHIP

Camas 5, Ferndale 3

Camas         121    010    0    —    5    11    1
Ferndale    000    003    0    —    3    6    3

Yinger and Barr; Olson and Ja. Frost.

Highlights: Kurt Yinger (C) 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Taylor Williams (C) 3-4, 2b, HR, 2 RBI; Jeremy Faulkner (C) 2-3, 2b; Jake Frost (F) 2-4, 2 RBI.