Thursday, Jun. 04, 2009

Feeder games field best of the best

By Kevin Anthony, Herald staff writer

There was a point in Wednesday's All-State Series feeder baseball games at Southridge High when fans could be forgiven for thinking they were watching the Suns take on Richland.

In the field were seven Southridge players, including Tyler Roberts on the mound. Up to the plate walked six members of Richland's 4A state championship team, one after another.

On this easy-going evening -- where the only fly balls that were legged out were the ones that found a gap, and the rare bad play was followed with a smile rather than a grimace -- the Bombers lived up to their names.

An inning that included two doubles, a triple and Brett Jacobs' two-run bomb -- all by Richland players -- resulted in four runs that powered the Cascade team to a 10-3 win over the Columbia in the second game.

"The first few innings it was like (a Richland game)," said Jacobs, who was named the day's MVP after going 5-for-6 with a double, triple and homer, driving in three runs and scoring three.

The Columbia breezed to a 12-2 win in the opener, thanks to some outstanding pitching from Davis' Michael Calderon and Pasco's Anthony Garza and a 3-for-4 effort from Kennewick's Trux French.

The official reason the 38 CBBN senior stars were on the field was to winnow down a list of 10 candidates to the All-State Series, slated for June 13 and 14 at Yakima's Parker Field. Those players are: Jacobs, Cody Shepherd, Josh Rapacz and Jamison Rowe of Richland; French; Roberts and Andrew Mendenhall of Southridge; Shawn O'Brien of Kamiakin; Calderon; and Corey Urquhart of West Valley. A decision will be made Tuesday on which of the 10 will play in the series.

But for most of the players, it was one last chance to put on their high school uniform and take the field with guys they've played against most of their lives.

And for the pitchers, it was a real test of their arms going against stacked lineups.

"It was exciting to get up on the bump and show my stuff," said Garza, who followed Calderon's three innings of one-hit ball with three more sharp frames.

Garza gave up just two hits and struck out three. Mendenhall threw the final two innings as the Cascade team was held to just six hits.

Meanwhile, French and Eisenhower's Tyler Berman (3-for-4, five RBIs) were powering an offense that put five runs on the board in the first inning and never quit hitting. Kennewick's Michael Gordon drove in three runs, ripping a two-run single in the fourth as the game started to get out of hand.

The nightcap looked like it might be another Columbia blowout, with Gordon and Clayton Homme slugging back-to-back doubles to power a three-run first.

But those were the only runs Cascade's pitchers would give up, as Kamiakin's Kody Young settled down for an easy time in the second and third and then Hanford's Nick French and Nick Betzsold wrapped things up over the final three innings.

Rapacz slugged a solo shot in the second, and then Cascade got its big four-run inning in the third. French and Quinn Zorich -- another one of those Richland kids -- hit back-to-back doubles to tack on three more runs in the fifth.

"Richland kids don't like to lose," Jacobs said. "No one here likes to lose."