Local briefs: Greater Richland 10U moves on to state final

Big defensive plays, clutch relief pitching and hitting in key spots led the Greater Richland Little League 10U All-Stars to a 9-4, eight-inning, comeback win over Mercer Island Saturday in state semifinal action.

With the game tied at four in the bottom of the sixth, Jack Forbes came out of the bullpen for GRLL and inherited a no-outs, bases-loaded situation, which he worked out of courtesy of an unassisted double play by first baseman Malakai Silva and a backhanded stop up the middle by second baseman Landon Webster to force extra innings.

Ukiah Jones picked up his second hit of the day in the eighth, a double that drove in Chris Daniels for the go-ahead run.

The Greater Richland All-Stars advanced to play in the championship game at 1 p.m Sunday in Lynnwood where they will face the winner of the loser’s bracket final between Mercer Island and Mill Creek.

▪ The Richland Knights defeated the Lynden Lightning 7-2 in their Washington State Legion AA tournament opener at Burlington-Edison High School.

Casey Perryman led the Knights at the plate, going 3-for-4 with a run scored.

Christian Berry pitched all seven innings for Richland, giving up two hits. Both runs against him were unearned.

The Knights continue round-robin play at 9 a.m. Sunday against River Ridge.

▪ The Kennewick AAA Outlaws got their state title bid off to a hot start, beating Lower Columbia 12-1 in their first game of pool play at Parker Field in Yakima.

The Outlaws put up two runs in the top of the first, and that was all Gerald Hein needed as he dealt seven innings of one-run ball ot get the win. Dillon Plew had two hits and drove in two of Kennewick’s runs.

The Outlaws will continue pool play with a game against the Twin City Titans on Sunday at 10 a.m.

Rodeo

Shayla Currin of Dayton contended with the nation’s best Saturday morning at the National High School Finals Rodeo finishing the 12th and final performance in a tie for fifth in the All-Around Cowgirl standings.

Currin took ninth in pole bending and 163rd in barrel racing to bolster her position.

Kennewick’s Clay Barry had a strong showing in barrel racing, finishing 15th in the performance. Baley Westberg, also of Kennewick, took 50th in steer wrestling and 117th in tie-down roping, Taylor Turner (Burbank) finished 97th in breakaway roping, and Kaytlin Ormiston ended up in 87th in girls cutting.

Golf

University of Washington freshman Carl Yuan beat Ephrata native Andrew Whalen in the 36-hole final match of the PNGA Men’s Amateur Championship Saturday at Wine Valley Golf Club in Walla Walla.

After trading the lead 12 times in the first 18 holes of the championship, the No. 2 seed Yuan never surrendered his advantage to the No. 16 seed Whalen in the final 18 holes of the match, eventually running away with the victory up five with three holes to play. Yuan defeated Richland’s Drew McCullough in Friday’s semifinal match.

▪ Princess Superal of Sun City, Calif., led Victoria’s Naomi Ko by six with five holes to play to win the PNGA Women’s Amateur Championship Saturday at Suncadia Resort’s Prospector course in Cle Elum.

Superal beat Pasco’s Jalayne Martinez in the round of 32 and Richland’s Kristin Strankman in the quarterfinals en route to the title.

Tennis

Top-seeded Venus Williams reached the Bank of the West Classic semifinals, beating 17-year-old wild-card entry CiCi Bellis 6-4, 6-1 in an all-American match Friday night in Stanford, Calif.

The 36-year-old Williams won the last of her 49 singles titles in Taiwan in February. She won the Stanford event in 2000 and 2002.

Williams will face Alison Riske on Saturday at The Taube Family Tennis Center. Riske led fourth-seeded CoCo Vandeweghe 6-3, 1-0 in another all-American match when Vandeweghe retired because of an ankle injury. Vandeweghe was taken off the court in a wheelchair.

Tri-City Herald staff and news services

This story was originally published July 23, 2016 at 9:42 PM with the headline "Local briefs: Greater Richland 10U moves on to state final."