Twin City rallies past Centralia

SELAH, Wash. — Kenton Brunson and Boone Meyers both drove in three runs, and Twin City broke away with a late rally to beat Centralia 10-6 in one of two elimination games at the Senior Leagion state tournament Friday.

Brunson went 3-for-3 with a double and two runs scored in addition to his RBI, while Meyers was 3-for-4 for Twin City, which used a four-run seventh to open a 10-5 advantage.

Centralia    200    030    001    —    6    12    3
Twin City    130    011    40x    —    10    12    4
Hull, Bishop (7), Gueller (9) and McAlpin; Dunford, Brunson (6), Fuller (7) and Turner.
Highlights: Kenton Brunson (TW) 3-3, 2b, 2 runs, 3 RBI; Boone Meyers (TC) 3-4, 3 RBI.

SPOKANE 13, KENNEWICK 11: Gerrick Little went 3-for-3 with two RBI, and Josh Martin and Jordan McInnis were both 3-for-4 with an RBI as Spokane hung on.

Kennwick left the bases loaded in the top of the ninth inning in a game in which the teams combined for 34 hits.

Tyler Morfin went 4-for-5 with four RBI, and Bryce Jackson was 3-for-4 with four RBI, including a three-run homer for Kennewick.

Kennewick    404    010    200    —    11    16    1
Spokane         143    140    00x    —    13    18    1
Rude, Morby (3), McKinnis (5), Loftus (6), Leatherwood (8) and Morfin; Poland, Hawk (7), McInnis (9) and Muelheins.
Highlights: Bryce Jackson (K) 3-4, 3-run HR, 4 RBI; Tyler Morfin (K) 4-5, 4 RBI; Josh Martin (S) 3-4, 2b, RBI; Gerrick Little (S) 3-3, 2b, 2 RBI; Jordan McInnis (S) 3-4, RBI.

2 times 3 equals victory for Bears

KEIZER, Ore. — A trifecta of two-run rallies in the middle innings gave the Yakima Bears their first winning streak in the second half of the Northwest League season.

Yakima scored twice in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings, the latter pair coming on Michael Weber’s first professional home run, as the Bears claimed a 7-4 victory over the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes.

The victory was Yakima’s second straight in this five-game series that ends Sunday, and improved the Bears’ second-half record to 2-1.

That scoring surge made a winner of starter Andrew Berger (2-1), who worked six solid innings, allowing four runs on just three hits while striking out six.

Trailing 2-1, Yakima took the lead for good in the fourth inning on Yazy Arbelo’s RBI double, and Raoul Torrez’s RBI single.

Yakima’s fifth-inning runs came via a wild pitch and Zach Walters’ RBI single.

Arbelo’s run-scoring double was part of a 3-for-4 night for the first baseman, who also scored twice. Torrez and Walters both had two-hit nights.

Yakima also stole five bases, including two each by Weber and Freeman, to push their league-leading total to 79.

7/31/10 Yakima Bears update

Next game

Opponent: Salem-Keizer Volcanoes.

When, where: 7:05 p.m. today, Volcanoes Stadium, Keizer, Ore.

Radio: KUTI (1460).

Website: www.yakimabears.com

Probable pitchers: Yakima RHP Miguel Pena (0-4, 4.03 ERA) vs. Salem-Keizer RHP Edward Concepcion (3-3, 5.35).

Box score

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NWL standings

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Holtman takes over CWU fastpitch

ELLENSBURG, Wash. — Already part of the program’s most memorable moments, Mallory Holtman on Friday was named the head coach of the Central Washington fastpitch team.

Holtman becomes the program’s third head coach since it began in 1993. Nancy Katzer coached the Wildcats for two seasons before Gary Frederick took over and led the program for 16 years.

As a Wildcats player in 2008, she and teammate Liz Wallace earned national recognition when they helped Western Oregon’s Sara Tucholsky around the bases after she hit a home run but suffered a knee injury when she missed first base and went back to tag it.

The display of sportsmanship won the “Best Moment” ESPY at ESPN’s annual awards show in 2008.

Last year, as a graduate assistant coach, she helped guide the Wildcats to their first postseason berth.

“I am excited to remain in Ellensburg and to be a continued part of Central softball,” Holtman said in news release from the school. “I have been proud to be a part of the success that has been created over the past seven years with this program, but I also look forward to leading this program into the future.”

Holtman set several CWU records and capped her career by being named the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Player of the Year honors in 2008. She is one of only two players in GNAC history to earn first-team all-conference honors four times.

She batted .365 for her career with school records in home runs (35), RBI (128) and hits (206).

“Mallory is a rising star in the sport of softball,” CWU athletic director Jack Bishop said in the release. “She has been the face of this program for quite a long time now.”

Local Report: Postseason run ends for WV

ELMA, Wash. — West Valley’s postseason run finally came to a end Friday night as the team fell 11-0 to Mercer Island in the 11-12 Little League State Tournament.

West Valley’s defense had a tough night, leading to six unearned runs for Mercer Island.

Offensively, West Valley had just two hits, singles by Jake King and Eli Valdez.

Still, it was a strong postseason showing for West Valley, which posted a combined 9-2 record in the district and state tournaments.

Mercer Island will face Auburn today for the state championship.

GOLF

Backes 8th in Jr. state tourney

EVERETT, Wash. — Holden Backes finished eighth in the Boys 8-11 Division in the Washington Junior Golf Association’s State Championship that concluded Friday in Everett.

Backes shot 37-36 in the first two rounds, which were nine holes, and then closed with a 93 in their lone 18-hole round for a 166 total.

He was the only local golfer among the eight state qualifiers to advance to the final round.

FINAL RESULTS

Boys

16-17: Eric Gravbrot 75-81—156, Kameron Lamb 79-85—164. 14-15: Taylor Bolm 94-90—184. 8-11: 8, Holden Backes 37-36-93—166, Travis Kay 40-38—78, Dylan Apodaca 42-38—80, Dylan Bissell 42-42—84.

Girls

14-15: Bree Wanderscheid 77-81—158.

ADULT FASTPITCH

JRW outlasts Rez Dawgz

SALEM, Ore. — It took awhile, but Jason Grow’s 15th-inning RBI single lifted JRW and Associates to a 2-1 record on the first day of the Class C Western National tournament with a 7-6 victory over the Rez Dawgz at Wallace Marine Park on Thursday.

Sam Aldridge pitched nine innings of relief in two stints and had 18 strikeouts against the all-Native American team from LeMoore, Calif.

In their other Thursday games JRW beat Mixed Company of Fresno, Calif. 7-0 and lost to the Wolf Pack of Las Cruces, N.M. 2-1.

On Friday JRW & Associates beat the Southern Oregon Bandits 3-0.

Mixed Company         000    000    —    0    0    2
JRW                                000    241    —    7    11    2
F. Dean, Dean Chavez (6) and J. Dean; Aldridge and Johnson
JRW highlights: Tim Ronestad HR, 3 RBI; Kevin Norton 3-3, 2 RBI; Sam Aldridge 9 K, 0 BB.
Wolf Pack    001    100    0    —    2    9    0
JRW               000    010    0    —    1    5    0
Mancha and Sedillo; Aldridge and Johnson
JRW highlights: Casey Johnson 1-3, RBI; Aldridge 4 K, 0 BB.
Rez Dawgz    400    020    000    000    000    —    6    10    0
JRW                001    101    300    000    001    —    7    20    3
Alanis, Teron (7) and Dixon; Arndt, Aldridge (5), Arndt (6), Aldridge (8) and Johnson, Grow (6), Johnson (8)
JRW highlights: Sam Aldridge 3-6, RBI, 18 K, 1 BB; Travis Lamb 4-6, 2 RBI (bottom 7th); Jason Grow 4-6, RBI in 15 inn.;
pitching: Aldridge 1 bb, 18 k’s in 8 inn  in last 7 inn of game had 16 k’s.
JRW               100    010    1    —    3    9    0
S. Oregon    000    000    0    —    0    2    3
Aldridge and Johnson; Howe, Trotter (6) and Mecum
JRW highlights: Tim Fischer 1-3, RBI; Tim Hite 2-4, 2 runs; Sam Aldridge 2-3, 2 RBI, 5 K, 0 BB.

Late show from Pak

Lindemann’s ninth-inning homer lifts Pak ||

SELAH, Wash. — With the two best teams from the best league in the state inseparable for eight innings, the American Legion state baseball tournament was poised for a special moment Thursday night.

And Kurt Lindemann pounced on it at his first chance.

Driving a first-pitch fastball over the rightfield wall for a two-run home run in the ninth inning, Lindemann lifted the Yakima Valley Pepsi Pak to a 6-4 victory over the Twin City Titans and launched his home crowd at Carlon Park into celebration.

“It was the ninth inning, we had a guy on and I knew I had to get a big hit,” said the clean-up hitting rightfielder. “I wasn’t thinking, ‘go up there and be aggressive,’ I was just looking for a fastball inner half.”

PHOTO GALLERY

Click here for more photos from this event

And with Travis Fuller’s first offering, there it was.

“I got it, too,” Lindemann smiled. “I knew it was going out.”

With Lindemann’s clutch shot and D.J. Smith’s stout pitching, the Pak (39-14) remain in the winner’s bracket and will take a 14-game win streak into today’s 7 p.m. game against Kelso Pacific Tech (28-13), which defeated the Spokane Bandits 8-6.

Smith, who beat Bellingham with eight-plus innings on Sunday, recovered powerfully on three days rest and managed to shut out the Titans for six of his 8 2/3 innings.

With Twin City the home team, the Titans had one last crack after Lindemann’s go-ahead homer. And they didn’t go quietly.

The left-handed Smith put two down in a hurry with his fifth strikeout and a 6-3 groundout, but then he gave up a double and issued just his second walk, bringing the winning run to the plate.

With Smith at 117 pitches, pitching coach Rob Archer sent in closer Jacob Vetsch and he got A.J. Griffiths to fly out to right for the final out.

“I was tired. Right now my arm feels like it’s going to fall off,” said Smith, who improved to 9-3. “I got two outs and I battled, but I also had complete faith in Vetsch. He goes in and gets it done.”

Smith only hiccup came in the third when Twin City put together a string of four hits in five at-bats for three runs. After that, all the Titans got on the board was Zach Rapacz’s RBI double in the eighth.

Rapacz’s hit, though, countered Matt Snider’s two-out RBI single in the top of the eighth and knotted the score at 4-4, setting up Lindemann’s heroics.

“I felt ready today but I put in a lot of hard work to recover,” said Smith. “A lot of ice, some running and a good massage. Yesterday maybe I could have thrown two, three innings. But today was felt strong again.”

The Titans (41-18) won three of four games against the Pak in early June and Garrett Anderson, Thursday’s starter, threw five innings in a seven-inning 6-0 shutout.

But Anderson had trouble locating in the rematch, issuing five walks and hitting a batter. Three double plays helped erase some of those free passes, but the Pak chased Anderson in the fifth and drew even at 3-3 on Lindemann’s RBI single.

Leadoff hitter J.R. Weigel went 3-for-5 and scored two runs, and Alex Fickes reached base four times with three walks and a hit-by-pitch, the latter preceding Lindemann’s fourth home run of the season.

The Central Washington League can still have three teams in the final four with the two Tri-Cities teams in loser-out games today — Kennewick vs. the Spokane Bandits at noon followed by Twin City vs. Centralia at 3 p.m.

Yakima Valley    100    020    012    —    6    10    1
Twin City              003    000    010    —    4    10    2
Smith, Vetsch (9) and Snider; Anderson, Fuller (5), Drury (9) and Wolf.
Highlights: J.R. Weigel (YV) 3-5, 2 runs; Kurt Lindemann (YV) 2-4, run, sb, HR, 3 RBI; D.J. Smith (YV) 8.2 IP, 5 K, 2 BB; Drew Oord (TC) 2-4, 2b, 3b, run, RBI; Zach Rapacz (TC) 2-4, 2b, RBI; Matt Minnich (TC) 1-1, 2b.

7/30/10 Pak-Twin City photo gallery

Photos from Thursday’s game between the Yakima Valley Pepsi Pak and the Twin City Titans in the American Legion state tournament at Carlon Park in Selah, Wash. All photos by Sara Gettys of the Yakima Herald-Republic.

Beetles don’t go down without a fight

SELAH, Wash. — When Mike Moore took over the Yakima Pepsi Beetles program this past winter he preached effort.

Message received.

Despite a record that fell below .500 the second half of the season, the Beetles kept fighting. They earned a surprising berth in the American Legion state tournament Sunday and nearly upended pre-tournament favorite and longtime rival Yakima Valley in Wednesday’s late-night opener.

Thursday afternoon, though, Yakima’s season ended. Fittingly, the Beetles scrapped until the end.

“We put the effort out there, we just didn’t get the results we wanted,” Moore said after Central Washington League rival Kennewick topped Yakima 8-3 in a loser-out contest at Carlon Park.

“They battled and that’s one thing I’m proud of,” he said.

The Beetles (25-34-1) nearly matched the Bandits hit-for-hit (13-12), but Yakima stranded nine runners, three of those in scoring position, and had another thrown out at home plate in the top of the third inning — the same inning it left the bases loaded.

Kennewick, meanwhile, was powered by Southridge twins Bryce and Ty Jackson.

Bryce Jackson had four RBI and three hits, including a two-run double in the Bandits’ four-run fifth inning in which they broke away.

Right-handed Ty Jackson struck out 10 batters, including six of the first seven batters he faced, scattered eight hits and gave up just one run in six innings of work before giving way to — who else? — lefty brother Bryce, who notched the save.

Max Kovatch led the Beetle offense with three hits and drove in a pair of runs. Jackson Marquis also had three hits, including a legged-out double with two outs in the ninth.

Will Scott and Jens Jensen each added two hits for Yakima.

“I think next year we’ll see a change with the kids coming in knowing what we expect,” Moore said.

Yakima           000    010    011    —    3    12    0
Kennewick    100    140    20    x    —    8    13    0
Woodkey, Walton (7), Klingele (8) and Lombardi, Reyes (7); T. Jackson, B. Jackson (7) and Jones.
Highlights: Jackson Marquis (Y) 3-4, run; Max Kovatch (Y) 3-5, 2 RBI; Will Scott (Y) 2-4, run; Jens Jensen (Y) 2-4; TJ Smith (Y) 1-3, RBI; Nick Lombardi (Y) 2b, run. Trek Stemp (K) 3-5, 2b, RBI, 2 runs; AJ Henderson (K) 2-3, 2b, RBI; Ty Jackson (K) 10 Ks, 1 run; Bryce Jackson (K) 3-4, 2b, 4 RBI, run.

Kelso upends Spokane

SELAH, Wash. — Kelso scored four runs on five hits and sent nine players to the plate to break a tie in the bottom of the seventh inning in an 8-6 victory against Spokane in the winner’s bracket of the American Legion state tournament at Carlon Park.

Jake Look added a solo home run for Kelso.

Beau Bozett and Garrick Little each had a pair of hits for Spokane.

Spokane    000    010    320    —    6    8    3
Kelso          000    130    40x    —    8    12    4
Olsufka, McNeill (5), McInnis (7) and Muelheims; Murray, Gillen (7) amd Giles.
Highlights: Beau Bozett (S) 2-4, RBI; Garrick Little (S) 2-3, 2 runs. Jake Look (K) 3-3, 2 runs, home run; Lane Sari (K) 3-5.

Centralia 10, Lakeside Recovery 6: Chris Bishop hit a grand slam in the fifth inning and added a two-run double in the seventh as Centralia ousted the defending champions in a loser-out contest.

Mitch Guellar doubled, tripled and drove in a run for Centralia.

Lakeside’s Mickey Smith and Mike Paulson each had three hits — including a double — and an RBI.

Centralia                       002    150    200    —    10    10    1
Lakeside Recovery    000    501    000    —    6    15    5
Fischer, Gales (5) and Altchech; Shelton, Witters (6), Bishop (8) and Housden.
Highlights: Chris Bishop (C) 6 RBI, grand slam, 2-run 2b; Mitch Gueller (C) 3 hits, 2b, 3b, RBI. Mickey Smith (L) 3-4, 2b, RBI; Mike Paulson (L) 3-5, 2b, RBI.

Frontis is back for thirds at Yakima Amateur

YAKIMA, Wash. — Dusty Frontis says one of the toughest things about playing in tournaments these days is that “there always seems to be another 18-year-old coming up.”

This weekend, however, Frontis will have to worry about more than just one or two of those young guns, with a host of golfers of all ages trying to deny Frontis’ run at history in the Yakima Amateur Invitational.

The Eisenhower High graduate, one of just five back-to-back winners in what was originally called the Yakima City Tournament, will be seeking to become the first player to win three consecutive titles, and just the third to win four overall.

“It’s pretty cool because we’ve had some pretty good players come through here,” Frontis said of the pending challenge that begins today at Apple Tree Resort.

Saturday’s second round is at Mount Adams Country Club, with the final round Sunday at SunTides Golf Course.

Although keenly aware of the stakes, Frontis wasn’t obsessing over it.

“I try not to think about it,” he said. “I just want to go out and play like it’s another round.”

There will be plenty of worthy adversaries chasing Frontis, a plus-3 handicapper, starting with one of those young talents he referred to, Goldendale’s Zach Wanderscheid, a two-time state high school champion with a plus-4 handicap.

Another plus-4 is Ellensburg’s Zach Mayer.

Others in the field are veteran Troy Wilmoth, who won the Yakima Valley Seniors Invitational earlier this year, and Corey DeGrood, who paired with Frontis to win the Central Washington Bestball championship in May and who was third in this event last summer.

The deep field also includes Brad Donahue, Doug Hearron, Ward Jackson, Carey Weedman, Jeff Larkin, Reidar Nettleship, Ivan Porcayo, Kenny Leadon, Matt Crockett, Gary Hutchins, and Perry Page.

“It’ll be tough, but I kind of like the pressure,” Frontis said. “I always seem to play a little better with the pressure on.”

Being in this position wasn’t something the 26-year-old really expected when he returned to the Valley after graduating from the University of Washington in 2006.

“I lost my game in college, but after I came back here and settled in, I regained it,” he said. “I’ve finally started playing well again.”

Frontis’ game started slipping when he got out of his “comfort zone” playing in the often wet conditions on the west side. In particular, he changed his swing trying to hit the ball higher and that “messed me up.”

Back home and on the familiar layout of his home course, Yakima Elks, Frontis rediscovered his stroke.

“I’m doing everything fairly well, and my short game has always been pretty good,” said Frontis, who plays a couple hours in the evening about three times a week, and then turns in a couple of rounds on weekends, when not competing in tournaments.

“I’m busy with work but I still get to play more than most people,” said Frontis, who is service manager at Burrows Tractor.

And with his game in top form again, Frontis looks forward to any opportunity to test it against those youngsters and others — especially in the Yakima Amateur.

“I definitely have to come back and keep playing (in that one),” he said.

And, as of late, quite successfully at that.

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