Needing a win or a close loss over Kennewick this morning to advance to the championship round of the Pacific N.W. Regional Tournament, the Astoria 14-year-old Babe Ruth All-stars got neither, falling 16-6 in six innings.
Kennewick took an early 7-2 lead with all seven runs unearned in the first two innings, courtesy of three errors. The South Washington champions would never trail in the game.
Astoria fought back to close the margin to two with a 3-run third inning.
A two run loss would have sufficed, but the South Washington champs took advantage of another defensive lapse, extending the fourth inning long enough to roll up seven more runs and were never threatened thereafter.
Max Johnson suffered the brunt of the damage on the hill, but defensive errors and poor defensive choices played a major part in the loss for a team that had been perfect defensively in two of their three tournament victories.
Johnson and third baseman Marcus Brown both had big days at the plate, with both recording three hits including a pair of doubles each.
Kennewick scored three runs in the first inning when eadoff batter Mike Sukalis opened with a double, scoring on the first of back-to-back errors, which led to two more unearned runs.
Astoria answered quickly in its half of the first. Marc Gallegos reached on an error and Trevor Couch walked. Both players came in to score on Marcus Brown's 1-out double.
Brown also opened the third inning with a double, coming in to score on a Max Johnson double. After a pair of walks loaded the bases with two outs, Johnson scored on a wild pitch and Marc Gallegos singled home Cody Strickland to make the score 7-5. Trevor Couch struck out on a ball in the dirt with runners on second and third, with the throw down to first base barely beating the speedy outfielder, who took a headfirst slide.
Another close call on the field in the previous inning led to much consternation on the Astoria side. After Kennewick took advantage of another error to score four runs in the top of the inning to take a 7-2 lead, Astoria loaded the bases with consecutive walks to Strickland, Zach Dursse and Dylan Israel. With nobody out and leadoff batter Gallegos at the plate, Astoria was primed for a big inning. But Gallegos hit a ground ball to the shortstop, whose throw home appeared to be late, at least to Astoria observers. The call was out and Trevor Couch and Ian Erickson both struck out to end the inning with no runs scoring.
The fourth inning proved to be the most costly for Astoria. Sukalis led off with a single for Kennewick and with one out, Josh Purdam lined a base hit to right-center field, putting runners on first and third base. Brandon Stump, Kennewick's cleanup hitter, grounded right back to Johnson on the mound, but instead of looking to second base to begin a potential inning-ending double play, Johnson threw to third base to try to catch the runner off the bag. Everybody was safe on the play, loading the bases with one out. Nolan Sportelli followed with a shot over the head of leftfielder Zach Dursse as the leak in the dam burst open. Three walks and two more hits later, Johnson was no longer pitching and Astoria trailed 14-5 as Kennewick scored seven runs in the inning.
Kennewick scored two runs in the top of the sixth inning to grab the ten run lead. In the bottom of the sixth, Astoria again left the bases loaded without scoring. After three consecutive base hits with one out, Dane Lund struck out looking and Cody Strickland popped out to end the game.
Unless Torrington, Wyoming can upset Roseburg this afternoon, a highly unlikely prospect, Astoria's season is over with the loss, as Roseburg and Kennewick both have the edge on Astoria in a runs allowed tiebreaker.
Kennewick's team featured four players who were also in the lineup two years ago, when Kennewick defeated Lower Columbia 14-3 in four innings in the Cal Ripken 12-year-old Regional Championship. That entire Lower Columbia team, minus Jacob Davis and Reese Johnson who played at the 13-year-old level this year, returned intact for this year's 14-year-old All-star team.
This team will make its fourth consecutive regional tournament appearance next summer when Astoria's Ernie Aiken Field is the host site for the tournament. As a result, Astoria will not compete in the North Oregon State Tournament next year, giving several players an opportunity to compete for their respective high schools.
KENNEWICK 3-4-0-7-0-2-X
16-11-1ASTORIA2-0-3-1-0-0-X
6-9-4WP-MacInnis (3ip, 4h, 5r, 4er, 6bb, 5k)
LP-Johnson (3.2ip, 8h, 14r, 7er)
