The top three baseball teams from the Class 3A Greater St. Helens League have reached the state tournament.
Camas responded from a first-round loss Tuesday in the 3A bi-district tournament to beat Hazen 15-8 Wednesday, qualifying for state. Meanwhile, Columbia River had to win back-to-back games in a different bracket of the same tournament to advance — and it happened. The Chieftains topped White River 5-2 a day after beating Kennedy.
Union had already clinched a berth to state with its win on Tuesday.
All three teams play Saturday in the bi-district, but regardless of those results, they have made it to the state’s field of 16.
Camas 15, Hazen 8 — Drew Drulik, Taylor Williams and Mychael Horbeck each homered and Kurt Yinger scattered seven hits while striking out nine batters as the Papermakers clinched the third trip to state in program history.
Hazen led 2-1 after an inning before Camas scored four runs in the third and five in the fifth for a 10-2 lead. Hazen scored half of its runs in the bottom of the seventh inning in a rally that fell short.
Drulik was 2 for 3 with a homer and double; Hornbeck homered in his only official at-bat; and Austin Barr was 3 for 3 with two doubles. Derek Akinson was 2 for 4 with a double and a triple. Yinger pitched six innings for the win, allowing two earned runs.
Columbia River 5, White River 2 — Christian Bannister struck out 10 batters to lead the Chieftains.
Bannister wasn’t the only Chieftain to deliver in the clutch in a must-win game.
Derek Dixon drove in runs with two-out hits on two occasions. He hit a double to score River’s third run of the third inning, giving his team a 4-2 advantage. In the fifth, his single gave River an insurance run.
Andy Breshears had three hits and scored twice for River. He scored on an error in the first inning, then came home on David Anderson’s single in the third.
Trevor Cass hit a sacrifice fly in River’s big inning, as well.
The Chieftains will play Mount Rainier or Olympic at 10 a.m. Saturday at Foss High School in Tacoma. If they win, they will play for fourth place at 4 p.m.
Class 2A baseball
River Ridge 5, Hockinson 4 — The Hawks had leads of 3-1 and 4-3, but River Ridge kept coming back and then took the lead in the bottom of the seventh inning in a Class 2A district semifinal game.
The Hawks fall into a winner-to-state, loser-done game at 1 p.m. Saturday in Centralia.
Connor Perry drove in two runs for the Hawks. Zach Borge added two hits and also drove in a run.
Hockinson scored twice in the top of the fifth, only to see River Ridge tie the game in the bottom of the frame. The Hawks got one in the sixth, and so did River Ridge.
A bad-hop single started the bottom of the seventh. River Ridge would eventually load the bases and score the winning run on a walk.
District Golf
Mountain View wins 4A team title — Battle Ground’s Maddy Alamillo is cruising after the first day of the Class 4A Greater St. Helens League’s district girls golf tournament.
While Alamillo has one more round of golf before she can think of celebrating, Mountain View golfers got to celebrate Wednesday after winning the team title at Lewis River Golf Course.
Alamillo shot a first-day score of 85 on the par-73 layout, good enough for a nine-stroke lead over Skyview’s Delaney Keser and 10 strokes better than Battle Ground’s Kiley Thomas.
Mountain View’s team title came courtesy of four players making the cut — in the top 14.
That included three players — Amelia Dale, Lauren Lackoff, and Rachel Kim — shooting 97s to tie for fourth place.
Mountain View’s total of 400 beat out Battle Ground’s 417. Skyview took third with 419.
The second round in the 4A tournament — to be held today —is to finalize individual results. Alamillo has the big advantage thanks to a first round that included seven pars and a birdie.
Prairie golfer leads 3A tourney — Prairie’s Ingrid Nelson has a two stroke lead heading into the final round of the Class 3A district golf tournament at Lewis River in Woodland.
Nelson fired an 89 on the par-73 course. Chloe Bartek of Columbia River and Yun Belex Cheng of Union each shot 91s. In all, there are six golfers within six shots of Nelson’s lead.
The 3A tournament uses a point system to determine its team champion.
Union qualified all six of its golfers to today’s second round. Five Prairie golfers made the cut, and Camas has four in the final round.
2A Soccer
Ridgefield 4, Hoquiam 0 — Brandon Dawkins scored two goals and Spencer Holdorf had a goal and an assists as the Spudders breezed past Hoquiam to clinch a spot in the Class 2A state tournament.
The Spudders will open state with a first-round game at home next Tuesday against an opponent yet to be determined.
Aberdeen 1, Hockinson 0 — Aberdeen ended Hockinson’s season with the shutout in the district playoffs. Hockinson goalkeeper Jared Weiss had five saves.
Tumwater 2, Washougal 1, PKs — Jeff Corona’s second-half goal forced overtime and eventually a penalty kick shootout for Washougal. But the Thunderbirds won the shootout 5-3 to ends the Panthers’ season.
