Napavine rallies to stun Toutle Lake, advance to state title game
May 29-Box Score
At Carlon Park
TIGERS 6, DUCKS 5 (8 inn.)
Toutle Lake 002 030 00 - 5
Napavine 000 010 41 - 6
TL Pitching - Hanson 6.1 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 4 BB, 2 K; Tibbles 0.0, 1 H, 1 ER; Lacroix 0 IP, 2 H, 2 ER; Johnson 1.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R (0 ER), 1 BB. Highlights - Rivera 1-4, 2B, 2 RBI, R; Ow. Foster 1-2, 2B, 2 R; Bukes 1-3, RBI.
NAP Pitching - C. Bullock 5 IP, 4 H, 5 R (2 ER), 3 BB, 6 K; Chambers 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K. Highlights - Wilson 2-4, 2 RBI, BB, R; Landram 3-5, 2 2B, R; C. Bullock 1-3, RBI, BB, R.
SELAH - With one out in the bottom of the seventh in a 2B State Semifinal, it looked like time was up for Napavine. The Tigers had managed just three hits and scored just one run through six and a third, and they trailed Toutle Lake by four.
About half an hour later, though, it was Napavine sprinting onto Wood Field at Carlon Park to celebrate.
"I'm still comprehending what just happened," Hudson Chambers said through a laugh and a smile.
Napavine rallied to score four runs in the seventh to force extra innings, and a Grady Wilson walk-off single in the bottom of the eighth gave the Tigers a 6-5 victory, one that puts them into the state championship game for just the second time in program history.
"That was just a complete buildup of what this team has been through this whole season," Chambers said. "We weren't gonna go down without a fight."
After a lineout opened the bottom of the seventh, Beckett Landram hit a single to put a baserunner on. More importantly, Landram's at-bat got Toutle Lake's Josh Hanson to 105 pitches, meaning he had to be taken out of the game after cruising against Napavine all morning.
It's the second time this season that Hanson has silenced Napavine's lineup, as he threw a complete-game shutout when the two teams faced off in March.
"He's a good locator," Chambers said. "He has good pitch sequences, but I think we were trying to do a little too much ... I think it was more on our end of not hitting well."
Once Hanson exited the game, the Tigers immediately put pressure on the Toutle Lake bullpen. Three straight singles from Cal Bullock, Chambers, and Wilson trimmed the deficit to two, and an RBI groundout from Layton Griffith made it 5-4 and put the tying run on second.
"If I'm at that part of my lineup with those guys coming up, I have all kinds of confidence," Napavine coach Brian Demarest said. "That's who we had up, and it just worked out ... For the kids to stick with the process and keep things going was wonderful."
Chase Shea came through with the game-tying hit, drilling a single to right field to bring home Wilson. Several of Wilson's teammates streamed into foul ground to celebrate with Wilson, and others screamed across the field at Shea, who was celebrating right back while standing on first base.
"Us guys slowly build off of each other," Wilson said. "We get one hit, that guy is excited, and then two guys are excited for him ... You start to see that, 'Oh, this is possible, and this can happen,' and it really brings everybody together.
"It's really fun to see all the guys come together and build off one another," Wilson continued. "Everybody comes out and does their job, everybody contributes, and it's really fun. It just feels so rewarding as a team when everybody's a part of all of our wins.
Chambers stepped back onto the mound in the top of the eighth, and he needed just nine pitches to retire the side in order.
"I just took a deep breath and pitched like I did every other outing of the season," Chambers said. "I was just gonna come in, throw strikes, locate the ball, and let my defense do the rest."
In the bottom of the eighth, a single, an error loaded the bases, and with two outs, Wilson drilled a line drive to left-center field to bring home the winning run.
"I was just trying to shrink the game a little bit," Wilson said. "Don't think of it as the moment in the situation, think of it more as just a one-on-one battle between me and the pitcher. I've played baseball for a long time, and I just need to do what I know how to do."
The excitement that had been brewing in the Napavine dugout finally spilled out onto the field, where the Tigers dogpiled Wilson near first base.
"No one is stopping us when we're hot," Chambers said. "With that energy, we all knew we were gonna win that at the end."
Chambers ended up getting the win on the mound after allowing just one hit in three scoreless innings of relief. Bullock threw the first five innings, allowing four hits and five runs, though only two were charged as earned. He also walked three and struck out six.
Landram finished with three hits, including two doubles, and he scored, and Wilson went 2 for 4 with two runs batted in.
Chambers, Bullock, and Shea added a hit and an RBI apiece, and Eric Bullock collected two hits and scored twice in three trips to the plate.
The win sends Napavine through to the state championship game for the first time since 2014, when the Tigers finished second. It's the only other time that Napavine has played for a state championship.
No. 3 Napavine (24-2) will face No. 1 Tri-Cities Prep in the championship game on Saturday evening in Selah. The Jaguars have won three straight state championships and four of the last five, and they'll enter the title game at 26-2.
For Napavine's four seniors - Chambers, Wilson, Cal Bullock, and Chase Reyna - Saturday represents one final opportunity to cap a career that includes two district championships (including the eighth-grade 2022 season) and four trips to state (also including 2022).
"We wanna end this thing with a state title," Chambers said. "We're gonna make it the best game of the season."
Wilson concurred.
"It would mean to the world to do it for all the friends and all the memories just to cap off this amazing season, to cap off senior year, and to cap off the high school experience," Wilson said. "Just to end it all, playing the sport I love with the people I love to hang out with would just be amazing."
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