Legion roundup: Bandits make off with CWL title

RICHLAND -- Sweeping a longtime rival, winning a league title -- those things are all well and good.

But even those prized accomplishments come up short to what really motivates teenaged boys:

A good night's sleep.

The Kennewick Bandits completed their two-day slugging binge against Twin City pitching, piling up 31 hits in a 15-4, 18-7 sweep of the Titans on Wednesday to claim their fourth Central Washington League title in six years.

With it comes the CWL's top seed to regionals, which for the Bandits (20-4) means a 4 p.m. Saturday game at Parker Field in Yakima.

Much better, center fielder Andrew Mendenhall said, than the 9 a.m. game in Colfax that would have been Kennewick's fate if the Bandits had settled for a split Wednesday.

"9 a.m. at Colfax -- that was the last thing we wanted," Mendenhall said. "This team likes to sleep in."

The Titans (15-9) are the league's third seed and travel to Newport High in Bellevue.

After battering the Titans for 36 hits and 17 runs Tuesday, the Bandits continued their power surge with five home runs and six doubles. Mendenhall drove in seven runs, Brennan Borlaug six and Trux French five on the day.

Drew Loftus had five RBIs in the second game alone, hitting a pair of doubles and a home run.

"It's definitely a good time to get hot right now," said Borlaug, who drove in 10 runs in two days.

With little chance of winning the league title, Titans manager Steve Farrington was thinking big picture this week and limited his pitchers to 30-40 pitches each. He used 13 in four games.

"We didn't want to burn anybody completely, so we used everybody," he said. "We have nine-inning games from here on in."

Twin City had plenty of offense of its own with 23 hits -- Cody Shepherd was 3-for-3 with a home run and two RBIs in the first game, and Brett Jacobs was 4-for-7 with three doubles on the day.

Still, it was not the way that Shepherd, Jacobs and Jamison Rowe -- longtime stalwarts for Richland High and the Titans -- wanted to play their final games at Bomber Field.

"We wanted to keep guys from getting overworked," said Shepherd, "but we didn't compete."

Kennewick 037 005 -- 15 11 2

Twin City 000 220 -- 4 11 3

Britt Hammer, Dane Westermeyer (5) and Kyle Sani; Chris Cecil, Garrett Anderson (3), Shawn O'Brien (6), Josh Rapacz (6) and Rapacz, Dillon Jackson (6). Highlights--Andrew Mendenhall (K) 1x3, 2B, 3 RBI; Thomas Henderson (K) 2x5, 2 RBI; Trux French (K) 1x3, HR, 3 RBI, 2R; Landon Scott (K) 2x3, HR, RBI, 2R; Sani (K) 1x2, 2B, 3R; Tyler Roberts (K) 2x3, 2R; Brennan Borlaug (K) 1x3, 4 RBI; Jamison Rowe (TC) 3x4, 2B, SB; Brett Jacobs (TC) 2x3, 2B, RBI; Cody Shepherd (TC) 3x3, HR, 2 RBI.

Kennewick 134 071 2 -- 18 20 0

Twin City 001 501 0 -- 7 12 1

Roberts, Westermeyer (4) and Joe Driver; Corey Hutchison, Jeremy Rojas (3), Devan Willis (5) and Jackson. Highlights--Mendenhall (K) 4x5, 2B, HR, 4 RBI, 3R; Henderson (K) 2x4, 2 RBI; French (K) 2x5, 2 RBI; Driver (K) 3x5, HR, 2 RBI; Borlaug (K) 3x5, 2B, 4R, 2 RBI; Drew Loftus (K) 3x4, 2 2B, HR, 3R, 5 RBI; Kyle Stumetz (TC) 1x4, 2B, RBI; Jacobs (TC) 2x4, 2 2B, 3 RBI; Rapacz (TC) 2x3; Cecil (TC) 1x4, 2B; Mike Dunford (TC) 2x4, 2 RBI; Jackson (TC) 2x4, 2B.

CWL AA Legion: Walla Walla Bruins 9-3, Kennewick Phantoms 2-6

Walla Walla 105 020 1 -- 9 7 1

Kennewick 020 000 0 -- 2 7 4

Matt Watson, Kevin Toon (7) and Conner Holbrook; John Driver and Garrett Wilz. Highlights--Toon 2x5; Tuff Gobel (W) 2x3; Troy Fulton (K) 3x3 2B.

Walla Walla 001 000 2 -- 3 6 1

Kennewick 030 003 0 -- 6 7 0

Drew Christina, Gobel (6) and Paul Oberg; Frank Murillo and Kyle Cardinal. Highlights--Adam Munoz (K) 2x3; Trek Stemp (K) 2x4 2B; Murillo 8K.