RICHLAND -- Three times Southridge and Kamiakin tangled earlier this season, and three times the Suns came out on top of entertaining and often down-to-the-wire baseball.
Saturday morning at Bomber Field in Richland, the Braves got the only one that mattered.
Jesse Houser homered and drove in five runs and Garrett Anderson went the distance on the mound to lead Kamiakin to an 11-4 win over Southridge in the first round of the 3A state baseball playoffs.
The loss ended a promising season for Southridge (19-4), which lost its last two games after finishing 18-2 in the regular season with a senior-laden team.
"I don't think it's hit me yet," said center fielder Oz Bartleson, like many of his teammates a two-year starter. "I feel bad. I love these guys."
Bartleson hit a pair of solo homers for the Suns, upping his playoff total to four long balls after being kept in the yard the entire regular season.
Anderson worked around seven Southridge hits and was happy to trade a few runs for outs after being staked to an 8-1 lead after three innings.
"All my pitches worked," said Anderson, who walked none and struck out nine. "But what it comes down to was (catcher) Joey (Flores) -- he was in the hospital yesterday, and we weren't sure he would play. But he came out here and called a great game. I'd dedicate probably 90 percent of what I did to him."
Flores' two-run double helped power a four-run second inning for the Braves. Then Houser blasted a three-run shot in the third to push the margin to seven runs.
The Suns simply couldn't get back in the hunt after that.
"They hit our best thing, and they hit it all over the yard," said Southridge coach Tim Sanders. "We played our best ball the first third of the season -- the coaches know it, the kids know it. Our goal was a state championship, and we walk away from the field, and you can't help but know we underachieved."
Kamiakin 044 003 0 -- 11 13 1
Southridge 101 100 1 -- 4 7 2
Garrett Anderson and Joey Flores; Bryce Jackson, Ty Jackson (3), Conner O'Neil (6), Chad Bettinson (7) and Dallas Jones.
Highlights--Joey Jensen (K) 2x5, RBI; AJ Griffiths (K) 2x5; Drew Oord (K) 2x2, 2B, 2 RBI, 3R; Jesse Houser (K) 3x3, HR, 5 RBI, 3R; Flores (K) 2B, 2 RBI; Anderson (K) 7IP-7H-4ER-9K-0BB; Matt Mendenhall (S) 2x3, 2B, RBI; Oz Bartleson (S) 2x3, 2 HR, 2 RBI.
