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Jeremiah Sammy was part of the 2009 Tri-City Dust Devils team that clinched the Northwest League East Division title at Gesa Stadium, and he remembers the joy of celebrating in front of a happy home crowd.
But the second-year Dust Devils shortstop got to see the flip side of that equation after a 4-3 loss to the Yakima Bears on Sunday in Pasco. As Sammy watched the Bears clinch their first playoff berth since the 2000 Northwest League season, he reflected on a season that hasn't gone so well for his team.
"It's tough, because we were the ones in this position last year. It's obviously disappointing," said Sammy, who went 2-for-3 with a pair of runs to lead the Tri-City offense but also committed his 15th error of the season. "We've been pitching great all year, but we've had a tough time putting everything together."
The Dust Devils (11-20 second half) fell nine games behind the Bears and remain tied with Boise for last place in the East. The loss was the team's third straight, fifth in the last six games and the 41st of the season. Only the 2003 Tri-City team, which finished 33-43, ended with more losses.
Yakima, on the other hand, has had a season worth remembering. The Bears (20-11) are 38-31, two games ahead of Spokane in the East standings and enjoying their first winning season since 2003.
"I talked to some fans who said it's exciting to be cheering for a winning team," said Yakima second baseman Mike Freeman, an 11th-round draft pick out of Clemson by the Arizona Diamondbacks this year.
"Going into tonight, we knew what we had to do, and we knew we had a few games to do it," he said. "But we haven't done what we're trying to accomplish."
The game was back-and-forth, with the lead changing hands three times through the first five innings.
Freeman hit a leadoff single and later scored to give Yakima a 1-0 lead in the first, but Dominic Altobelli lined a two-out, two-run double to left center field in the bottom half of the inning to give Tri-City a 2-1 advantage.
Freeman struck again in the third, hitting a one-out double and scoring on a grounder by Zach Walters to tie it at 2. The Bears went ahead in the fifth, as Westley Moss scored on a wild pitch by Dust Devils starter Josh Hungerman to make it 3-2.
But Sammy laid down a bunt single to lead off the bottom of the fifth, took third on a single by Leonardo Reyes and scored on Bryce Massanari's RBI grounder to tie it at 3.
Freeman broke that tie in the top of the seventh, bouncing an RBI single up the middle off Tri-City reliever Sean Jarrett (1-1) to bring in Michael Weber -- a 37th-round draft pick out of Washington State -- for the go-ahead run.
Jarrett (1-1) took the loss, allowing a run on two hits in 1 1/3 innings. Corey Davisson (3-1) got the win for the Bears, tossing three scoreless innings in relief of starter Brad Wilson. Jake Hale picked up his fourth save, striking out the side for two straight innings.
"The teams (Yakima) has had, they were struggling, but they have a good team this year," siad Tri-City manager Fred Ocasio. "Their drafted guys have been doing well."
Notes: Dust Devils 3B Jayson Langfels struck out four times, while 1B Mark Tracy whiffed three times. ... Tracy just missed a long home run in the bottom of the third inning that would have given Tri-City a 4-2 lead. With Jared Simon on first, Tracy smashed an 0-2 fastball from Wilson down the line with a little bit of english. It had the distance, bouncing off the back of the groundskeeper's shack, but landed just a few feet foul. ... With Sunday's crowd of 1,413 fans, the Dust Devils are slightly behind the pace to break their single-season attendance record for the sixth straight year. After 34 games, Tri-City has drawn 74,213 fans, an average of 2,182 a game. In 2009, the Dust Devils averaged 2,216 fans a game, a total of 84,198. ... Today's pitching matchups feature Tri-City left-hander Edwar Cabrera (2-2, 4.50 ERA) against Yakima righty Teo Gutierrez (0-0, 1.13).
