CAL RIPKEN 12'S FACE TOUGH COMPETITION
The Lower Columbia Cal Ripken 12-year-old All-Stars got an extra week of practice before their first summer tournament this past weekend at Western Longview's John Null Park.
While the local 12's accounted well for themselves, they won just one of four games against some of the top teams on two sides of the border.
Pool play began on Thursday with an 11-5 loss to Kelso. Lower Columbia defeated Black Hills on Friday 3-2 before concluding pool play with a close loss to Kennewick Americans, 6-4.
Seeded third out of the four-team pool, LC took on the other team from Kennewick, the Nationals, who finished second in pool play, losing 8-0 Saturday night.
As an indicator of how tough the tournament field was, Black Hills, which finished last in Lower Columbia's pool, nearly knocked off top-seeded North Oregon power West Linn, falling 9-7 in Saturday's bracket opener. The Kennewick Nationals finished second to West Linn in pool play after having played in tournaments the past two weekends, finishing first in each!
Kennewick jumped ahead with two runs in the first inning on five hits and never looked back. Josh Biel through the first three innings for Lower Columbia and did not allow a hit in the second and third innings. Biel likely should have been out of the first inning unharmed, but Lower Columbia was unable to make the necessary defensive plays to prevent a hard ground ball from getting through the right side of the infield and a catchable pop fly to right field dropped in fair. Kennewick also benefitted from an infield hit and a bunt single in the inning and could have scored more runs if not for a runner thrown out at the plate.
Kennewick plated two more runs on four hits off Nick Fraitus in the fourth inning before opening up the game with a four-spot off lefthanded pitcher Andrew Bergeson in the fifth. Kyle Kelly relieved Bergeson and retired five of the six batters he faced to close out the game.
Astoria did not trouble four different Kennewick pitchers, recording just three hits and the Tri-Cities 12-year olds did not commit an error while making several impressive plays in the infield.
Ross Kukula and Cody Fox each went 1-for-2 with a stolen base and Bergeson lined a sharp single to right field in the fourth inning, but was retired on a ricochet force play at second when Kelly's sharp liner caromed off the glove of diving shortstop Alex Nunez right to second baseman Ty Earley.
Conner O'Neil struck out the side in the sixth inning to get credit for the victory.
The Lower Columbia 12-year-olds are now 2-3 overall and head to Hoquiam's Jump Field this weekend for their next tournament action.
12A ALL-STARS
Manager: Melton LuCore-Lewis & Clark Majors
Coach: Faaleo Poyer-P&L Johnson-Astoria
Coach: Jon Kukula-Mariners-Long Beach
Jeremy Poyer-P&L Johnson
Ross Kukula-Mariners
Austin Wirkkala-Mariners
Brendan Greenfield-Mariners
Kyle Kelly-Knappa Blue
Jeff Benthin-Knappa Blue
Josh Biel-Wilson Construction (Warrenton)
Nick Freitas-Wilson Construction
Cody Fox-Lewis & Clark Majors
Andrew Bergeson-Lewis & Clark Majors
Kyle LuCore-Lewis & Clark Majors
Nathan Spurbeck-Elkhorn Oysters (Naselle)
Dustin Eaton-Elkhorn Oysters
TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
June 30-July 1 Hoquiam-Jump Field
July 13-15 North Oregon State Tournament at La Creole Complex in Dallas
July 25-29 Pacific N.W. Regional Tournament in Puyallup (if they win state)
While the local 12's accounted well for themselves, they won just one of four games against some of the top teams on two sides of the border.
Pool play began on Thursday with an 11-5 loss to Kelso. Lower Columbia defeated Black Hills on Friday 3-2 before concluding pool play with a close loss to Kennewick Americans, 6-4.
Seeded third out of the four-team pool, LC took on the other team from Kennewick, the Nationals, who finished second in pool play, losing 8-0 Saturday night.
As an indicator of how tough the tournament field was, Black Hills, which finished last in Lower Columbia's pool, nearly knocked off top-seeded North Oregon power West Linn, falling 9-7 in Saturday's bracket opener. The Kennewick Nationals finished second to West Linn in pool play after having played in tournaments the past two weekends, finishing first in each!
Kennewick jumped ahead with two runs in the first inning on five hits and never looked back. Josh Biel through the first three innings for Lower Columbia and did not allow a hit in the second and third innings. Biel likely should have been out of the first inning unharmed, but Lower Columbia was unable to make the necessary defensive plays to prevent a hard ground ball from getting through the right side of the infield and a catchable pop fly to right field dropped in fair. Kennewick also benefitted from an infield hit and a bunt single in the inning and could have scored more runs if not for a runner thrown out at the plate.
Kennewick plated two more runs on four hits off Nick Fraitus in the fourth inning before opening up the game with a four-spot off lefthanded pitcher Andrew Bergeson in the fifth. Kyle Kelly relieved Bergeson and retired five of the six batters he faced to close out the game.
Astoria did not trouble four different Kennewick pitchers, recording just three hits and the Tri-Cities 12-year olds did not commit an error while making several impressive plays in the infield.
Ross Kukula and Cody Fox each went 1-for-2 with a stolen base and Bergeson lined a sharp single to right field in the fourth inning, but was retired on a ricochet force play at second when Kelly's sharp liner caromed off the glove of diving shortstop Alex Nunez right to second baseman Ty Earley.
Conner O'Neil struck out the side in the sixth inning to get credit for the victory.
The Lower Columbia 12-year-olds are now 2-3 overall and head to Hoquiam's Jump Field this weekend for their next tournament action.
12A ALL-STARS
Manager: Melton LuCore-Lewis & Clark Majors
Coach: Faaleo Poyer-P&L Johnson-Astoria
Coach: Jon Kukula-Mariners-Long Beach
Jeremy Poyer-P&L Johnson
Ross Kukula-Mariners
Austin Wirkkala-Mariners
Brendan Greenfield-Mariners
Kyle Kelly-Knappa Blue
Jeff Benthin-Knappa Blue
Josh Biel-Wilson Construction (Warrenton)
Nick Freitas-Wilson Construction
Cody Fox-Lewis & Clark Majors
Andrew Bergeson-Lewis & Clark Majors
Kyle LuCore-Lewis & Clark Majors
Nathan Spurbeck-Elkhorn Oysters (Naselle)
Dustin Eaton-Elkhorn Oysters
TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
June 30-July 1 Hoquiam-Jump Field
July 13-15 North Oregon State Tournament at La Creole Complex in Dallas
July 25-29 Pacific N.W. Regional Tournament in Puyallup (if they win state)
posted by Matt Richert at 4:45 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home