Flames, Bandits earn state baseball berths
The Hanford Flames lost a tough game to Bellingham Post 7 by a 10-9 score at the Washington State AA Regionals, but the Flames bounced back to beat the Spokane North Stars 15-3.
That gave the defending state champion Flames a chance to defend their state title when the state tournament begins in Centralia next Saturday.
In the opener, Ryan Coulson led Hanford with three hits and three RBIs, while Brady Heid and Isaac Benard each hit home runs.
Against Spokane, Hanford pitcher Jalen DeVine shut down the North Stars with 6 strong innings.
Benard was 4-for-5 with a home run, and he scored four times.
The Kennewick Bandits also advance to the state tournament after they defeated Centralia Sobe 13-5 in their regional final. No other details were available.
Two other Central Washington League teams, the Apple Valley Packers and the Yakima Valley Pepsi Paks, also qualified for the state tournament.
Hanford 010 040 040 — 9 13 0
Bellingham Post 7 000 500 14x — 10 12 1
Jacob Anderson, Jalen DeVine (8) and Jon Miles, Aaron Enderlin (7); David Stealy, Jace Albert (6) and Brady Shearer. Highlights—Brady Heid (H) 2x5, HR; Anthony Porcaro (H) 3x4; Isaac Benard (H) 2x5, HR; Ryan Coulson (H) 3x5, 3 RBIs; Mitch Godwin (H) 2x4.
Hanford 301 050 15 — 15 18 2
Spokane N.Stars 000 010 20 — 3 8 4
DeVine, Tanner Heiman (7) and Miles. Corey Tamer, Ryan O’Rourke (5) and Jake Leavy. Highlights—Heid 3x5; Porcaro 2x6, 3 runs; Benard 4x5, 4 runs, HR; Coulson 2x5; Sawyer Henry (H) 2x4; David Juergens (H) 2B.
Junior Legion AA: The Southridge Bandits beat Walla Walla 3-1 in the Area 4 district tournament to capture the No. 1 seed for the Junior Legion AA state tournament in Spokane beginning Saturday.
The Bandits scored three runs in the bottom of the third, as Tyler DuPree led things off with a double. That was followed by back-to-back singles by JaShaun Simon and Derek Doyle to get things rolling.
Southridge starter Matthew Oldham went the distance, allowing just a run on three hits and walking none on 73 pitches over seven innings.
Walla Walla 000 100 0 — 1 3 1
Southridge 003 000 x — 3 5 2
Yenney and Lesmeister; Matthew Oldham and Jake Kirchoff. Highlights—Tyler Dupree (K) 2B; Tate Spivey (K) 2B; Oldham (S) CG, 0 BBs; Cordero (WW) 2B.
A Legion Regionals: The Kennewick Dusters earned a berth to the state A tournament by placing second at its regional tournament at LaPierre Field.
The Dusters lost 7-1 to Bellingham, as Tyler Lloyd had four hits, including a double and triple, for Kennewick.
But the Dusters bounced back to beat Olympia 13-3. Jethro Questad had two hits, including a homer, for Kennewick.
The Kennewick Bandits also qualified for state after they beat North Kitsap 5-2 in their regional title game.
The Richland Knights fell short in their regional, losing their title game to FM Sports 15-0, then falling 9-2 to Prairie No. 1.
Bellingham 000 600 1 — 7 13 0
Kennewick 100 000 0 — 1 9 1
Kennewick highlights—Jethro Questad (K) 2x4; Tyler Lloyd (K) 4x4, 2B, 3B.
Olympia 002 001 — 3 5 0
Kennewick 302 215 — 13 9 2
Kennewick highlights—Cooper Ellison 2x4; Questad 2x3, HR; Hunter Mulderig 2x4, Lloyd 3 runs; Jayvee Selda 3 runs; Chase Grillo 3 RBIs.
Babe Ruth 14: Twin Cities won twice at Roy Johnson Field to take the Southern Washington State Tournament title.
The No. 2 seed in the single-elimination portion of the tournament, Twin Cities first eliminated No. 3-seed Camas 12-2; then beat top seed Hazel Dell Metro 9-3 for the title. Twin Cities advaces to the Pacific Northwest Regional tournament, which begins July 30 in White Fish, Mont.
Little League 12: Pacific came back through the loser’s bracket to beat Federal Way twice on Saturday to win the State Little League title in Seattle.
Pacific won the first title game 2-1, then won 12-2 in four innings to advance to the Northwest Regional.
Little League 11: Richland National lost its state tournament opener in Chehalis, falling to Riverview 4-1.
No other details were available.
Richland National will play Sedro Woolley at 4:30 p.m.today in a loser-out contest.
Walla Walla Valley was eliminated from the tournament Sunday. After losing 7-6 to North Bothell on Saturday, Walla Walla fell 11-4 to Kent.
Little League 10: Thunderbird completed its comeback at the state tournament in Richland by defeating Walla Walla Valley 6-5 in the second title game Sunday.
Thunderbird forced the second championship by winning the first title game 8-3 on Saturday. No other details were available.
This story was originally published July 20, 2014 at 11:55 PM with the headline "Flames, Bandits earn state baseball berths."