Legion Baseball -- Late heartbreak for Pak

Twin City wins state championship with two runs in the bottom of the 10th inning

Yakima Herald-Republic

TACOMA -- A four-game elimination run and a resilient pitching effort by Jake Fife got the Yakima Valley Pepsi Pak within one play of a Senior Legion state championship Wednesday night.

But that one play -- in the bottom of the 10th inning with two outs -- went the way of the Twin City Titans.

After the Pak ousted the Kennewick Bandits in an all-Central Washington League duel for the title, Brett Jacobs' two-run single in the 10th lifted the
Titans to an 8-7 victory over Yakima Valley at Cheney Stadium.

Fife carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning and nearly got out of the 10th-inning jam. The Titans loaded the bases with no outs but Fife got two popouts before Jacobs' clutch hit.

The Pak took a 7-6 lead in the top of the 10th on Chris Demond's RBI single.

"We've got tough kids and they came to the park every day and battled," said Pak coach Mike Archer, whose team advanced through four consecutive loser-out games to reach the final. "We fought like heck to get back in the tournament and we had some great efforts along the way. We were right there."

Demond and Ryan Durkee were 2-for-3, and Fife finished with six strikeouts. The Pak, the league's No. 3 state entry, finished with a 44-20 season record.

Twin City (42-17) advances to the Northwest regional tournament in Bozeman, Mont., and will face Idaho state champ Boise in the opening round on Aug. 14.

To reach Wednesday's title game, the Pak first had to deal with the Kennewick Bandits, who had taken three of four from Yakima Valley in their league series.

But Pak pitcher Zach Biehl and a six-run second inning took all the drama out of this one as Yakima Valley rolled to a 13-3 victory in the afternoon semifinal.

Biehl, who beat the Bandits 5-1 in the regular season, worked 8 1/3 innings and shut Kennewick down with seven strikeouts and two walks while allowing just four hits. Having thrown 3 2/3 innings on Saturday, Biehl was only allowed by Legion rules to throw 8 1/3 on Wednesday. Josh Eaton finished off the last two outs in the ninth.

"Biehl was phenomenal," Archer said. "Zach threw the first day, came back and was outstanding."

Kennewick, which won the CWL title and its regional bracket at Carlon Park, finished the season 42-17.

 

SEMIFINAL

Yakima Valley 13, Kennewick 3

Yakima Valley 060 113 002 -- 13 13 1

Kennewick 102 000 000 -- 3 4 5

Biehl, Eaton (9) and Snider; Fox, Ellendt (2), Westermeyer (7) and Sani.

Highlights: Zack Biehl 7 K, 2 BB; Chris Demond 2-run 3b in 2nd; John Plugoff 4-6, 2 2b, 2 RBI; Jake Fife 2-4, 2 2b, RBI; Dustin Daniels RBI single; Matt Snider 2-4, RBI.

 

CHAMPIONSHIP

Twin City 8, Yakima Valley 7 (10)

Yakima Valley 100 030 020 1 -- 7 11 2

Twin City 000 000 240 2 -- 8 8 5

Fife and Snider; Young, Shepherd (5), Rapacz (8), Forgette (9) and Garrett.

Highlights: Jake Fife CG, 6 K; Chris Demond 2-3, RBI; John Plugoff RBI single in 5th; Cody Edwards RBI single in 1st; Ryan Durkee 2-3, 2b.

 

JUNIOR LEGION

Richland reaches final

SELAH -- Recovering from an opening-day loss with five straight wins, the Richland Knights edged River Ridge 3-2 on Wednesday night to win the Selah bracket of the Junior Legion state tournament at Carlon Park.

Richland will play Chehalis, winner of the Kennewick semifinal bracket, today at Carlon Park in a nine-inning championship game that starts at 6 p.m.

Chehalis defeated host Kennewick 15-5 to earn its berth in the final.

 

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