Baseball OHS second to state champs ACH

On Saturday, May 25, the Tiger baseball team faced off against the Almira-Coulee- Hartline Warriors to decide the 1B baseball championship. The game was played in Yakima, contrary to what The Record announced in last week’s issue (the WIAA, which organizes the tournament, posted much conflicting information on its website).

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R- H-E

Ach 0 0 2 0 7 1 - 10-13-2

Od 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0-2-2

The Tigers and Warriors started the game pretty equally matched through the first few innings. The Tigers threatened in the second inning with a single by Hayden Miller. Theron Schlomer was already on base after drawing a walk. Both runners were stranded, however.

ACH’s bats woke up in the top of the third, when back-to-back singles by Gerard and Loomis put runners on first and second. Dalton Kentner then doubled to bring both those runners home.

Jett Nelson reached first base on a fielding error and then stole second. Marcus King walked to put two in scoring position. Schlomer hit into a fielder’s choice, putting King out going to second and ending the inning.

In the fourth, ACH’s catcher Correia singles to get things going. However, Schafer and Reece Isaak both ground out, and Murray strikes out to end it. For the Tigers Eric Johnston hits a grounder and reaches first on an error. The next three Tigers strike out, leaving Johnston stranded.

The fifth inning turns into a deal-breaker for the Tigers. The Warriors start off with back-to-back singles once again. The third batter hits a grounder, but the fielder’s choice is to home plate to prevent anyone from scoring. It also loads the bases. A pitching change is made and Camden Weber moves from shortstop to pitcher. Kentner is the first batter he faces, and he hits a solid single to left that scores the runners from second and third. There are still no outs. Mac Isaak is up next. He singles, and the runner on second is able to score. The score is now 5-0. Correia then also singles, resulting in another score. Schafer gets on base due to an error, scoring Mac Isaak and moving another runner to third. The next batter also singles, scoring two more runners, and the score is 9-0.

The Tiger lineup is changed as Weber moves back to shortstop, Theron Schlomer takes the pitcher’s mound and DeWulf covers first base. The first batter Schlomer faces also singles, advancing the baserunner. The next batter hits into a double play, the first two outs of the inning. The next batter after that is out when Weber snags an infield fly ball.

With that, the top of the fifth, mercifully, ends.

The Tigers are desperate to score runs. After Bradly Singer strikes out, Weber hits a double to right field. Nelson then hits a fly ball to left field for the second out. King goes down swinging for the final out, leaving Weber stranded at second base.

Warrior pitcher Dalton Kentner went all the way for the ACH team and stymied the Odessa batters at every turn.