KENNEWICK -- There was no gold at the end of the Mid-Columbia baseball rainbow this spring, but that didn't take the shine off what by all accounts was a terrific season for local players and fans.
Richland won its fifth consecutive state trophy and seventh in 10 years with a third-place showing in the Class 4A playoffs. Kamiakin earned its first hardware since 1994, finishing fourth in the 3As and surviving a district in which five teams had legitimate hopes of winning a state title.
The two trophies brought back to the Tri-Cities -- the 18th and 19th won by Kennewick and Richland schools in 21 years -- were evidence of a deep pool of talent in the Mid-Columbia that extended east to Walla Walla and north to Moses Lake.
Amid all that talent, no player was bigger -- literally -- than Southridge senior Ty Jackson, who earned the Herald's choice as All-Area MVP.
"Absolutely, no complaints from me," said Richland coach Ben Jacobs, who over the last two seasons has had his full measure of Ty and twin brother Bryce, also a first-team selection.
"Those guys torched us. They had 26 hits against us (in a doubleheader this year), and the Jacksons had 13 of them. And six or seven were extra-base hits."
"He was a guy who sat in the middle of our lineup the last couple of years and just did what he did," Southridge coach Tim Sanders said. "He loved baseball and had good guys in front of him and behind him.
"He was a very, very good two-strike hitter. It worked for him to work the counts. He was a big run producer for us."
At 6-foot-3 and 225 pounds, Jackson was an imposing figure at the plate and on the mound, and he had the numbers to back it up.
He hit .532 (33-for-62) during the regular season with four home runs and a CBBN 3A-high 34 RBIs.
He was 6-0 as a pitcher with a 2.76 ERA, 29 strikeouts in 251/2 innings and three saves.
"He was always there for us to close games out and get us a spot start," Sanders said. "It was really, really nice having him at the back end of both those games (in a doubleheader).
"If you get it to him in the sixth inning, it's a done deal."
Jackson, headed to Washington State next fall along with Bryce, said the entire Suns team felt like it left something undone with its loss to Kamiakin in the first round of the state playoffs.
"We had a good season," Jackson said, "but our main goal was state. We feel like we accomplished a lot this year in one of the toughest league's that Southridge ever had. We were 18-2 going into one of the toughest playoffs.
"We had a team meeting, and this season -- we don't mean to say that it's a failure, we don't want to say it's a failure, but we did not accomplish what we wanted to."
One of the toughest parts, Jackson added, was saying goodbye to his Suns uniform, even if he is trading it for Cougs crimson and gray.
"We were returning our stuff, and I was like, 'Oh, jeez, I don't want to do this. This is the last time I'll touch this jersey.' The next guy to have it better be a hard worker."
Indeed, he's going to have some big shoes to fill.
Joining Jackson on the all-area first team are some of his top competitors for the MVP award, including his brother, Bryce, at first base, and teammate Matt Mendenhall at third.
Garrett Anderson had an MVP-caliber season on the mound for Kamiakin. He's joined by pitchers Drew Christina of Walla Walla and Dan Scheibe of Hanford, whose 4-0 record in the postseason put him over the top.
Trek Stemp, last year's area MVP, is back at short as one of two juniors on the team. The other is Mendenhall.
Richland landed three players on the first team: catcher Jarrod Turner for the second year, outfielder Zach Rapacz and utility player Cody Poznanski, a true jack-of-all-trades who played proficiently in the outfield and at third and first base.
Blake Raekes at second base and Joey Jansen in the outfield give Kamiakin a trio of players. Wa-Hi outfielder Matt Watson joins Christina from a Blue Devils team that won the 4A league title and qualified for state for the first time since 1990.
Second-year Kamiakin coach Ryan Carter got the nod for coach of the year, guiding the Braves through the treacherous CBBN 3A waters before they made a run in the postseason.
"It was fun," Carter said. "I truly believe we played our best at the end of the year. The kids just kind of took it and ran with it, and we (coaches) were along for the ride."
Second team
P, Jake Campeau, sr., Walla Walla; P, Syd Hall, sr., Richland; P, Stetson Plew, jr., Kennewick; C , Chris Synoground, sr., Hanford; 1B, Jarod Gonzales, jr., Kennewick; 2B, Corey Morris, jr., Richland; 3B, Drew Oord, jr., Kamiakin; SS, AJ Hoskins, jr., Hanford; OF, Kenton Brunson, sr., Richland; OF, Justin Berneski, sr., Kamiakin; OF, Troy Fulton, jr., Kennewick; DH, Blake Eastman, sr., Hanford; Util, Dyllon Smith, sr., Columbia-Burbank
Honorable mention
Garrett Wilz, jr., Kennewick; Conner Holbrook, sr., Walla Walla; AJ Henderson, sr., Southridge; Jake Jimenez, sr., Walla Walla; Drew Loftus, sr., Kennewick; Kevin Toon, sr., Walla Walla; AJ Griffiths, sr., Kamiakin; Cameron Alvarado, sr., Moses Lake; Spencer O’Neil, sr., Southridge; Oz Bartleson, sr., Southridge; CJ Edrington, jr., Chiawana; Mitch Yada, sr., Moses Lake; Devin Westermeyer, sr., Kennewick; Daniel Deaton, jr., Kiona-Benton
