3A baseball semifinal has familiar feel to it

After losing to Mount Rainier in the bi-district tournament, Columbia River coach Stephen Donahue looked for Camas coach Joe Hallead, who was watching the game.

“He said ‘Let’s meet again at Safeco,’ ” Hallead said. “And I said ‘All right. Sounds good.’ And now, here were are, going all that way to play your next-door neighbor. It’s great.”

Camas and Columbia River, two rivals from the 3A Greater St. Helens League, advanced to the Class 3A state semifinals at Safeco Field in Seattle by posting two wins each in Saturday’s regionals.

Columbia River came back from being the No. 3 seed from the the GSHL and the No. 8 seed from the West Central bi-district. Yet the Chieftains put it all together Saturday in Centralia, beating Highline of Burien 12-4, and then holding on to beat Mercer Island 8-6.

Christian Bannister pitched into the fifth inning, a gutty performance from a pitcher with a bad throwing shoulder.

In Yakima, Camas beat West Valley of Yakima 13-2 and Ferndale 5-3 to earn the Papermakers’ first trip to the final four. Saturday’s win over West Valley was the first state playoff win in Camas’ school history.

“After Logan Grindy caught that pop-up for the final out, we all rushed the field into a big dogpile,” Hallead said. “To take over a program in 2000 to go to where we are now, the feeling was indescribable.”