Mid-Columbia baseball teams grab 5 of 6 WA state tournament berths

High school baseball fans in the Mid-Columbia are very aware that the quality of the sport is very high around here.

So it’s nice to see that thought confirmed after Saturday’s results, especially in the Class 4A and 3A ranks.

Of the six available state tournament berths (three in each classification), five of them were earned by Mid-Columbia Conference schools.

In the 4A portion of the District 8 tournament involving MCC and Greater Spokane League schools, the three state qualifiers were all MCC teams: Richland, Kamiakin and Chiawana.

Richland beat Kamiakin 5-1 on Saturday in the tournament title game at LaPierre Field (read further down for a quick recap of that game).

Meanwhile, Chiawana went up to Spokane and beat Gonzaga Prep 8-7 in 9 innings to snare the third state seed.

And Walla Walla pulled off the upset in the District 8 Class 3A tournament, edging Kennewick 4-3 at Pasco High on Saturday.

Southridge almost made it a clean sweep for MCC teams, but lost 4-3 in 9 innings at Mt. Spokane for the final state berth.

All state teams were to be seeded by state committees for regional play on Sunday.

Richland beats Kamiakin

Richland head baseball coach Grant Richardson has his Bombers in top form right now.

“We always say we want to be playing our best at the end of the season,” said Richardson.

And that’s just what the Bombers are doing.

On Saturday, Richland had a great pitching performance from both Cameron Kallsen and reliever Kenyon Coleman, and used some clutch hitting at the right time to beat Kamiakin 5-1 in the District 8 Class 4A championship at LaPierre Field in Kennewick.

With the victory, the Bombers are hoping to move into a top 4 position in the WIAA’s RPI rankings, and then have the 4A state tournament seeding committee award them to host one of the four regional sites next weekend.

Regardless of where Richland goes, Richardson loves the way his team is playing.

“We don’t depend on just one person on this team,” he said. “Everybody is playing well, and in our lineup, 1 through 9, we expect something to happen.

”That “something” came in the sixth inning, when the Bombers snapped a 1-1 tie with a four-run inning.

Senior Joey Weissenfels opened the inning with a line drive single to right field, and junior Jase Vopalensky followed with a perfectly placed bunt single to put runners on first and second.

Junior Kooper Jones advanced both runners a base on a sacrifice bunt.

Sophomore Chris Daniels then drove in the go-ahead run with a single to right.

“I saw the outside pitch, and I was pretty close to the plate,” said the right-handed hitting Daniels, who slapped at the pitch.

After Ethan Ammerman walked to load the bases, Richland’s Troy Molnaa was hit by a pitch to score another run, and Drew Johnson finished the barrage with a two-run single to right field.

That was all that was needed for the Bombers, thanks to starter Kallsen — who went five innings — and Coleman, who tossed a perfect final two innings with three strikeouts.

“I was worried about missing my spots,” said Kallsen, who who struck out two batters in his five innings. “And I needed to stay around the strike zone enough, but not get too pretty. I had to locate my fastball in the right spots.”

Kallsen did just that, surrendering only a first-inning run, thanks to an RBI double by Kamiakin’s Peyton Rickard. But over the next four innings, Kallsen scattered three singles and shut the Braves down.

“I told the guys after the game it’s time to change the page and look to Monday,” said Kamiakin coach Steve Woods. “Everyone is in the same situation in that they have to win two games next Saturday (at regionals) in order to make it to the state semifinals.”

It just wasn’t Kamiakin’s day, added Woods.

“At the end of the day, (Richland) beat us,” he said. “I think,” added Kallsen, “we’ve just gotten on a roll, and we’re riding it.”

Other state baseball qualifiers

In Class 1A, Royal defeated College Place 7-4 in the district championship Saturday at Yakima County Stadium. Both teams qualify for state. Naches Valley earned the third state berth, beating Kiana-Benton 5-3.

Three area teams are headed to state in 2B. Tri-Cities Prep beat Warden 9-6 on Saturday night to win the EWAC district tournament.

In the third-place game, Cle Elum-Roslyn beat Columbia-Burbank 22-0. All four teams advance to state.

Burbank qualified for state when it knocked off No. 1 West seed Kittitas 13-2 in the first round of the tournament.

In 1B state, DeSales, Liberty Christian and Sunnyside Christian have all qualified for state.

DeSales won the District 9 tournament last week, beat Almira-Coulee-Hartline 9-3 in the championship.

Liberty Christian beat Wilbur-Creston 7-0 to place third, while Odessa beat SSC 16-6 for fifth.

Boys soccer

Pasco beat Lewis & Clark 1-0 on Thursday night to win the District 8 Class 4A tournament title.

Those teams advance to state, as does Chiawana — which beat Central Valley 4-2 on Saturday for the third state berth.

Kennewick qualified for the 3A state tourney when it beat Ridgeline 1-0 for the last state berth. Mead and North Central are also headed to state.

Othello qualified for the 2A state tournament. The Huskies lost the district title match to East Valley-Yakima 3-2. But they bounced back to top Grandview 3-0 for the second state berth.

In 1A, Connell beat Wahluke 2-0 for third place in the SCAC district tournament. However, both teams qualify for the state tournament. Toppenish and Highland also come out of the district to play in state.

Softball

Most district tournaments either start or continue this week to determine state participants.

But perhaps the biggest story this week is Hanford. The Falcons have already qualified for the 4A state tournament.

Hanford had to win a play-in game last Thursday to even get into the District 8 tournament. The Falcons did so, smashing Lewis & Clark 21-0.

Then Hanford (5-11 in MCC play this spring) beat Chiawana 8-6 on Saturday in Spokane. Finally, the Falcons pounded GSL champion Gonzaga Prep 7-1 to earn a state berth.

The other half of the tournament was rained out Saturday and will be played Monday at Columbia Playfield in Richland.

Kamiakin takes on Central Valley at Richland at 3 p.m., with the winner playing Richland at 5 p.m. for a state berth.

In 3A play, Hermiston takes on University, and Walla Walla plays Mt. Spokane on Wednesday for spots in the state tournament. Kennewick plays Cheney on Wednesday in a loser-out game.

This story was originally published May 16, 2022 at 8:32 PM.