Sunday, May. 17, 2009

Roundup: Hanford baseball captures 3A state berth

By the Herald staff

SPOKANE -- Nick French hit a pair of doubles and drove in four runs as the Hanford baseball team rebounded from a loss in the 3A Eastern Regional title game to defeat Rogers 14-4 on Saturday to clinch a state berth for the second straight year.

The Falcons (15-11) travel to Parker Field in Yakima next weekend for the Region 2 portion of the 3A bracket.

They will play Mount Rainier (20-5), which survived the consolation portion of the West Central District tournament to grab its No. 4 seed.

Hanford lost to West Valley 10-2 in the championship game, marking the fourth time in four tries the Falcons have lost to their CBBN rival this season.

"Our guys are pretty resilient, though," said Hanford coach Tom DeWitz. "We've shown that all year. We play in a tough league and have had our hats handed to us several times, and we've always bounced back."

3A Eastern Regionals

Championship

West Valley 350 020 0 -- 10 9 0

Hanford 002 000 0 -- 2 4 3

Johnson and Andreas; Manderbach, French (3), Wagner (6) and Beebe, Synoground (6). Highlights--Jones (WV) HR.

Hanford 804 11 -- 14 9 2

Rogers 130 00 -- 4 5 1

Betzsold, Saueressig (5) and Beebe; Campbell, Orlowski (2) and Douglas. Highlights--Josh Oslund (H) 2x4, 2B; Brad Elzie (H) 2x2, 2B; Nick French (H) 2x3, 2 2B, 4 RBI.

Othello 7, Selah 1

EPHRATA -- Chris Brunetti hit a three-run home run, Marc Garza added another homer and Othello handed No. 1 Selah its first loss of the season and won the CWAC district title.

The Huskies (18-4) won their first title since 2003 and will play Cheney in the first round of the 2A state playoffs next weekend at Davis High in Yakima.

Othello 031 030 0 -- 7 7 1

Selah 100 000 0 -- 1 6 1

Isaiah Suarez and Shon Valdez; Justin Windsor, Trent Douglas (7) and Matt Snider. Highlights--Chris Brunetti (O) 1x3, 3R HR; Marc Garza (O) 2x2, HR; David Garza (O) 2x3; Valdez (O) 2x3.

SCAC districts

YAKIMA -- Adam Ranger tossed a four-hitter and top-ranked Naches Valley rolled to a 12-0 win over Columbia (Burbank) in the SCAC district final at Parker Field.

Ridge Taylor went 4-for-6 with a double for the day as Connell defeated Cle Elum 12-0 and River View 13-2 to earn the district's No. 3 seed to the 1A state playoffs.

The Panthers advanced with a 2-1 win over Kiona-Benton, as Eric Farnworth singled home the go-ahead run in the sixth inning.

Championship game

Naches Valley 000 043 5 -- 12 14 2

Burbank 000 000 0 -- 0 4 2

Ranger and Gillespie; Schuck, Bertsch (5), D.Byrd (6), E.Ireland (7) and K.Ireland. Highlights--Ethan Flory (NV) 4x5, 2B, 4 RBI; Adam Ranger (NV) 6K, 1x3, 2 RBI; Ethan Ireland (B) 2x3.

Connell 821 01 -- 12 13 1

Cle Elum 000 00 -- 0 4 4

Morgan Heiman and Ethan Dillon; Brendan Loyer, Seth Darling (1) and Corey Zapel. Highlights--Dillon (Con) 2x3; Ridge Taylor (Con) 2x4, 2B; Briar Carlisle (Con) 3x3; Cody Crockett (Con) 2B.

Connell 305 110 3 -- 13 18 3

River View 100 001 0 -- 2 6 3

Dillon, Kenan Van Hollebeke (7) and Nate Eppich; Terry Tracy, Brendan Hoch (4) and Tanner Bates. Highlights--Dillon (Con) 2x4; Noe Marroquin (Con) 2x4; Eppich (Con) 5x6, 2 2B; Taylor (Con) 2x2; Carlisle (Con) 2x6; Heiman (Con) 2x3; Dennin Harding (RV) 2x4, 2B.

Kiona-Benton 001 000 0 -- 1 3 2

River View 001 001 x -- 2 5 4

Corey Brundridge and Mike Salyers; Gage Nicholson and Tanner Bates. Highlights--Bates (RV) 2x2; Tylor Burnett (RV) 2B.

Southeast 1B districts

Jake Hodnefield tripled in a run and also score twice to lead Touchet to a 10-4 victory over Tri-Cities Prep in the championship game of the Southeast 1B district tournament at Gesa Stadium.

Will Hoppes struck out 12 for Tri-Cities Prep in a 4-0 win over Colton that clinched a state berth for the Jaguars. They will play defending 1B state champion Lake Quinault next weekend in Yakima in the quarterfinals.

Colton 000 000 0 -- 0 1 1

Tri-Cities Prep 010 300 x -- 4 5 1

Nick Heitstuman and Nate Jacobs; Will Hoppes and Troy Redmann. Highlights--Jay Orth (TCP) 2x2, R; Chase Castona (TCP) 3B; Jarrod Ver Steeg (TCP) 3B; Hoppes (TCP) 12K.

St. John-Endicott 000 110 0 -- 2 9 2

Touchet 020 060 x -- 8 6 0

VanLith, Bennett (5), Raynor (5), Winters (5) and Winters, West (5); Kelsey Cardwell and Marshall Byerley. Highlights--Matt Kates (T) 2x3; Cardwell (T) CG, 7 Ks, 2 BB; RBI; Ethan White (SJE) 2x2, RBI; Byerley (T) RBI.

Tri-Cities Prep 400 000 0 -- 4 8 3

Touchet 009 010 x -- 10 11 2

Castona, VerSteeg (4) and Redmann; Tuff Goble and Byerley. Highlights--Troy Redman (TCP) 3x4; Will Hoppes (TCP) 3x4; Jake Hodnefield (T) RBI 3B, 2R.

2B districts

Asotin 002 503 0 -- 10 5 2

DeSales 000 000 0 -- 0 1 7

Alford and Parnall; Klicker and Wujek. Highlights--Alford (A) 9K.

Dayton 000 00 -- 0 2 1

DeSales 330 4x -- 10 9 1

B.Bickelhaupt, Gilbertson (4) and G.Bickelhaupt; Richard and Wujek. Highlights--Richard (DeS) 2B, 4 RBI.

Wai-Prescott 000 100 0 -- 1 2 5

Dayton 401 203 x -- 10 14 0

Mason, Tucker (4) and Fletcher; Lambert and G.Bickelhaupt. Highlights--Gerke (WP) HR; G.Bickelhaupt (D) 2 2B.