The Columbia River baseball team’s route to the 3A state tournament was long and treacherous. But the Chieftains made it to their destination.
Columbia River won two elimination games Saturday at the bi-district tournament in Tacoma to snag one of the last of five berths to state.
The Chieftains survived a nail-biter in the morning, beating Bonney Lake 6-5.
In the bottom of the seventh, Bonney Lake had the bases loaded with one out. But River’s Jace McKinney struck out Bonney Lake No. 4 hitter Riley Miller, who was 3 for 4 with a double and home run in the game, and got a flyout for the third out to prevent the tying run from scoring.
Columbia River then defeated Shelton 5-1.
River lead 5-0 after six innings. McKinney was 2 for 4 with a triple and four RBI.
The Chieftains won three consecutive loser-out games to reach state. They will play a first-round game Saturday against Mount Spokane at Whitworth University in Spokane.
2A baseball
W.F. West 6, Woodland 5, 8 innings — Woodland’s season came to an end with an extra-inning loss in the District 4 tournament in Centralia.
In a back-and-forth game, Woodland pulled even at 5 with an RBI single by Tristan Thomas in the fifth inning.
W.F. West scored the winning run on the last of five Woodland errors.
Cody Shepherd went 3 for 4 with two doubles for the Beavers.
Black Hills 1, Hockinson 0, 9 innings — A stellar pitching outing by Mitch Lines wasn’t enough as Hockinson’s season came to an end at the District 4 tournament.
Lines struck out 11, allowed three hits and walked two over eight innings. But Black Hills scored the winning run in the ninth on a sacrifice fly.
