Story Photos
 Cameron Frost of Thurston County just beats the tag of Tualatin Hills third baseman Hollin Metz in Wednesday's regional action. Scot Heisel / The Daily News
|
Babe Ruth Roundup: Thurston County edges Tualatin Hills in battle of unbeatens
Thursday, July 31, 2008 9:04 PM PDT
By Janine Manny
For The Daily News
Printable version
E-mail this articleThe whispers going around Stan Rister Stadium late Wednesday afternoon said that Thurston County was the “team to beat” in the Babe Ruth 13-year-old Pacific Northwest Regionals.
After defeating previously undefeated Tualatin Hills 5-3 on Wednesday, Thurston County head coach Keith Stottlemyre said that he hadn’t heard that particular rumor — but that his dozen all-stars could handle the pressure.
“We’ve played with a target on our backs before,” Stottlemyre said. “This is a good group of kids.”
In Wednesday’s two early games, Josephine County, Ore., defeated Gillette, Wyo., 16-2 in five innings, and Hazel Dell Metro got past Calgary, Alberta, 10-3.
Stottlemyre is the nephew of Seattle Mariners pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre. He said his uncle is a “great guy,” but wanted to talk about his 12 resilient players instead.
Thurston County came into the regional tournament in Kelso with just one loss all summer. Now 2-0 in pool play, the players hope they are the team to advance to the Babe Ruth World Series in Jamestown, N.Y., next month.
“I’ve coached some of these kids since they were 5 or 6 years old,” Stottlemyre said. “Six of them went with me last year as 12-year-olds to the Cal Ripken World Series. We took third in the country.”
Thurston County had a bye on the first day of regionals, then edged Lynden 10-8 on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, Thurston County faced Tualatin, the team that dispatched Gillette on Monday and Josephine County on Tuesday.
Catcher Jake Biscay (2-for-4), the leadoff batter for Thurston County, smacked a single to start things off, but Thurston County didn’t score in the top of the first inning.
In the bottom of the first, after a leadoff single by Eli Stokes, Mike Ehlen walked and later scored on a sacrifice by Kyle Henderson as Tualatin led 1-0.
Max Stottlemyre walked in the top of the second and speedily wheeled his way home on an RBI single by Cameron Frost. The score was tied 1-1 until the fifth inning when Frost (2-for-4) had another RBI and drove in Biscay.
Tualatin executed two double plays against Thurston County, one in the second inning and one in the fifth, and stayed in the game until the sixth when an RBI single from Max Stottlemyre and a two-run single from Biscay allowed Thurston County to take a 5-1 lead.
Ande Grantham added a single for Thurston County and Derrick Wells went 2-for-2 in the win.
Thurston County starting pitcher Cobi Beal threw 5 2/3 innings, giving up three runs on two hits and seven walks. In the sixth with two outs, Max Stottlemyre came in and threw to two batters before being replaced by the hard-throwing Frost.
“We thought we could use Max to get us some ground balls and get us out of the inning,” Keith Stottlemyre said. “It would have worked, but our fielders weren’t quite in position.”
Frost, with 15 pitches, got the last out in the sixth inning and the next three in the seventh to end to end the game.
“(Tuesday), we only used Frost for 45 pitches. We can use a pitcher seven innings every two games, but we are more concerned with the number of pitches thrown. “He is a powerful ball player.”
JC takes down Gillette
Gillette, Wyo., looked strong in the first inning against Josephine County starter Marco Garmendia, taking a quick 2-0 lead on RBI singles from Matt Fogle and Andrew Kaufmann.
But Garmendia settled down and pitched hitless ball for the next four innings as Josephine County exploded for a 16-2, five-inning victory in Wednesday’s opening game at the Babe Ruth 13-year-old Pacific Northwest Regionals at Stan Rister Stadium.
Josephine County improved to 2-1 in the American Division, tied for second with Tualatin Hills. Thurston County leads the five-team pool with a 2-0 mark. The top two squads advance to Saturday’s semifinals.
Josh Cowell finished 2-for-3 with a double and Chase Van Ess was 2-for-3 with a double to lead the winners. Austin Zigray singled and scored the first run for Gillette (0-2), which left the bases loaded in the third inning.
— Rick S. Alvord , The Daily News
HDM tops Alberta, 10-3
Reid McKinney was 2-for-4 at the plate and scored two runs, and Clark Bryant pitched a complete game to lift Hazel Dell Metro to a 10-3 win over Alberta in the Babe Ruth 13-year-old Pacific Northwest Regionals on Wednesday.
It was the first win of the tournament for Hazel Dell (1-1), which lost to Meridian, Idaho, on Monday and had a bye on Tuesday. HDM made the 10-team regional field as an at-large entrant after the British Columbia champion decided not to travel to Kelso.
Bryant scattered eight hits and struck out two, and Erick Meyer added a double.
Colin MacFarland had a big day for Alberta (0-3), finishing 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles. Yuri Suzuki had two singles and was hit by a pitch.
— Rick S. Alvord, The Daily News
More
For comprehensive tournament coverage, including schedule, scores, standings, photo galleries and more, visit our Babe Ruth Tournament section.
Past Month's Most Commented Stories