Story Photos
 Photo by Bill Wagner Columbia-Cowlitz third baseman Zac Morain tags out East County's Michael Lauritzen on a steal attempt Friday in Castle Rock. |
Columbia-Cowlitz, Kelso still alive in state play at Castle Rock
Friday, July 21, 2006 11:39 PM PDT
By Jesse Cramer
Printable version
E-mail this articleCASTLE ROCK -- The Columbia-Cowlitz and Kelso 14-year-old Babe Ruth baseball teams took different routes here Friday to earn No. 2 seeds for today's championship-bracket play at the Southern Washington State Tournament.
Tourney host Columbia-Cowlitz scored five runs in the fifth inning against East County to fuel an 8-3 comeback victory.
"Everyone wants to play against the host team, but we're like the little engine that could," Columbia-Cowlitz head coach Jeff Hamilton said.
Defending state champ Kelso, meanwhile, backed into the championship bracket with a losing pool record (1-2) despite an 8-7, eight-inning loss to Centralia. Ironically, Kelso still eliminated Centralia because of a three-way tiebreaker that factored runs allowed to determine who would advance.
"It's a heck of a way to get into it, but I'll take it," Kelso coach Bob Smith said.
Play opens here today at 9 a.m. when Columbia-Cowlitz faces Lacey, with the winner to play Kennewick in a 3 p.m. semifinal. Kelso plays Aberdeen at noon, with the winner meeting Pasco in a 6 p.m. semifinal.
The title game is slated for 10 a.m. Sunday.
Columbia-Cowlitz 8, East County 3
Dustin Hamilton pitched the win with 2 2/3 innings of middle relief, while going 2-for-4 at the plate with a pair of runs scored.
Hamilton entered in the fourth inning with Columbia-Cowlitz trailing 2-1. After East County added an unearned run on an error, Hamilton -- a lefty with an elusive pickoff move -- erased Ryan Heyer at first base.
Hamilton and Zac Morain, who toiled the seventh inning, didn't allow a run the rest of the way.
Columbia-Cowlitz broke out of a 3-for-16 slump to start the game when Chris Tinney, Tyler Elam, Hamilton, Chris Eddy and Tony Sirnio strung together consecutive singles with no outs. Morain added an RBI single to give Columbia-Cowlitz a 6-3 lead.
Elam (2-for-2, two runs), Hamilton and Sirnio (3-for-4, two RBIs) each singled during Columbia-Cowlitz's two-run sixth inning.
Eddy tallied a game-high three RBIs.
Centralia 8, Kelso 7 (8 innings)
Kelso starter Cody O'Neill was cruising with a 4-1 lead through 4 2/3 innings until Centralia sent six batters to the plate for a two-out rally that saw the Kelso lead vanish.
Jordan Hull's two-run triple tied the game and Kyle Perkins, who notched the win in relief, gave Centralia a 5-4 lead in the fifth.
Kelso grabbed a 7-5 advantage in the sixth, but ran out of a possible big inning. After loading the bases, Chase Fick reached on an error as Centralia's shortstop opted for the play at home plate and overthrew the catcher to the backstop. Tyler Daniels and Robbie Neal both scored on the play to give Kelso the lead.
With runners at second and third and still no outs, Kelso risked a suicide squeeze. It backfired with a strikeout, tag-out double play.
Tyson Connors hustled to third base on the twin-killing and later scored Kelso's seventh run on a passed ball. But Centralia plated a pair of runs in the top of the seventh and another in the eighth to win its final game of the season.
For Kelso, Brandon Middleton went 2-for-4 with a triple, two RBIs and a run. Daniels was 2-for-4 and reached safely in all four plate appearances, and Connors scored twice.
In other games Friday, Pasco beat Aberdeen 11-9 and Kennewick whipped Lacey 9-1. On Thursday, Kennewick blanked Kelso 7-0 and Pasco topped East County 10-8.
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