Youth baseball roundup for July 17: Kennewick Babe Ruth 14s lose two in pool play

The Kennewick Babe Ruth 14-year-olds dropped both of their pool-play games Friday at the Southern Washington State Tournament in Richland.

Kennewick suffered a 12-4 loss to Kelso hours after falling 9-3 to Twin Cities at the Kingsgate Babe Ruth Baseball Complex.

Kennewick is 1-3 in pool play, beating Richland 8-5 on Thursday for its lone win thus far.

Richland, hoping for its first victory of the tournament after three losses, was scheduled to face Twin Cities at 6 p.m. Friday.

On the other side of the spectrum, Hazel Dell Metro improved to 4-0 in the tournament with Friday’s 9-0 victory over Mt. St. Helens.

HDM has outscored its pool-play opponents 53-2, including Thursday’s 23-1 romp over Richland and Wednesday’s 11-0 win against Kennewick.

Pool play concludes Saturday with Richland vs. Kelso at 9 a.m., Kennewick vs. Mt. St. Helens at noon and Hazel Dell Metro vs. Twin Cities at 3 p.m.

BABE RUTH 13s: Richland qualified for the championship bracket at the Babe Ruth 13s state tourney in Camas.

Richland topped Kelso 7-1 on Thursday night thanks to a big night from Alex Bennett, who had three hits and pitched six strong innings.

Richland lost to Camas-Washougal 6-3 on Friday despite two hits and a nice defensive play from shortstop Kirby Robertson.

Richland will play one more pool-play game at 1 p.m. Saturday against Twin Cities.

Hunter Rios, Kyler Voie (5) and Rees Hall; Alex Bennett, Walker Taggares (7), Ethan Miner (7) and Luke Stutesman, Taggares (2), Stutesman (6). Highlights: Bennett (R) 3x3, 6 IP, 2 Ks; Landon Amato (R) 3x4; Taggares (R) RBI; Zerric Pardini (R) RBI; Kirby Robertson (R) 2 RBI; Miner (R) RBI; K.J. Moo-Young (R) 2B, RBI; Griffin Linn (R) RBI.

Whitney, Gideon Malacheski (2) and Jason Gibbs; Robertson, Amato (7) and Stutesman, Taggares (3), Stutesman (5). Highlights: Robertson (R) 2x4; Dylan Pescasio (R) 2B.

BABE RUTH 15s: After beating host team Harbor Babe Ruth 12-10 on Thursday, Kennewick lost to KWRL 13-0 in a night game at the Southern Washington State Tournament in Hoquiam.

Kennewick, which dropped to 1-2 in the tournament, was scheduled to play Longview at 1 p.m. Friday and Twin Cities at 10 a.m. Saturday.

AA LEGION DISTRICT PLAYOFFS: The Pepsi Cola Dusters got a wake-up call at the district playoffs in Walla Walla, falling behind after West Valley’s three-run first inning. But the Dusters responded with seven unanswered runs to record a 7-3 win.

Logan Smith hit a two-run double, and Hunter Mulderig allowed just three hits over the final six innings after a rocky introduction to record the complete-game win for the Dusters, who will play Eastmont at 1 p.m. Saturday.

In Selah, the Richland Knights and Southridge Bandits each beat Ellensburg and lost to Yakima Valley. The Tri-City teams will meet in an elimination game at noon Saturday at Carlon Park.

In Walla Walla

Crow, Parsley (6) and Towsley; Hunter Mulderig and Will Koskinen. Highlights: Towsley (WV) 2x3; Crow (WV) 2B; Cooper Ellison (D) 2x4; Logan Smith (D) 2B, 2 RBIs; Tyson Brown (D) 2B; Mulderig (D) 4 Ks, 1 BB.

In Selah

Friday

Game 1: Richland Knights 4, Ellensburg 2; Game 2: Yakima Valley Peppers 6, Southridge Bandits 4; Game 3: Kennewick Bandits 6, Ellensburg 3, loser out; Game 4: Yakima Valley Peppers 4, Richland Knights 3.

Saturday

Game 5: Richland Knights vs. Southridge Bandits, loser out, noon.

Sunday

Game 6: Winner 5 vs. Yakima Valley Peppers, winner to state, loser to playoff for third berth, 6 p.m.

A LEGION DISTRICT PLAYOFFS: The top-seeded Pepsi Cola Dusters and No. 2 Walla Walla Griz won their district tournament openers at LaPierre Field to secure state berths, while No. 3 Richland and No. 5 Pasco went 1-1 on the day.

By topping Pasco 8-2, the Dusters set up Saturday’s 3 p.m. showdown against Walla Walla, which defeated Richland 6-2 behind Jared Ortiz’s complete game. The winner will play Sunday for the district championship.

Chase Grillo struck out 11 in six innings for the Dusters, while D.J. Cooke, Nolan DeGarmo and Kohlter Trimble each drove in two runs.

Pasco and Richland will meet in a loser-out, winner-to-state game at noon Saturday. Pasco opened the tournament with a 16-12 victory over No. 4 Moses Lake, which was then ousted with a 10-9 loss to Richland.

Kyle Corrigan went 2-for-3 with five RBIs in Richland’s win over Moses Lake.

Romero and Childs; Grillo, DeGarmo (7), and Cooke. Highlights: Bonnington (P) 2x3, 2B; Trimble (D) 2x3; Flynn (D) 2x3; DeGarmo (D) 2x3; Cooke (D) 2x3, 2B.

CAL RIPKEN 10s: The Kennewick American 10-year-olds, fresh off winning the Southern Washington State Tournament last Saturday at the Kennewick National complex, are looking to raise money Saturday to help with the costs of playing at the Pacific Northwest Regional Tournament.

The team will hold a car wash and kettle corn fundraiser from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at Discount Tire, 115 Gage Blvd. in Richland, near Costco.

Kennewick American will play in the regional tournament July 23-25 in West Linn, Ore.

This story was originally published July 17, 2015 at 8:39 PM with the headline "Youth baseball roundup for July 17: Kennewick Babe Ruth 14s lose two in pool play."