In 2002, coach Art “Ossie” Osmundson led the Ridgefield baseball team to its first state championship. The triumph came four weeks after Osmundson was let go as the Spudders’ football coach.
In the fourth trip to the state final four in school history, the Spudders used a big rally to claim their first title.
This is Ridgefield’s story from 2002:
YAKIMA — There are upsets and comebacks, and then there are the types of performances like Ridgefield’s, the kind that take those nice, comfy terms and toss them away like an errant throw.
Saturday, the Spudders did just that.
They took logic and heaved it, and in doing so, they claimed their first state championship in baseball. It was an unlikely upset that was the result of two shocking rallies, as Ridgefield scored 13 runs over the final two innings to stun Ephrata 15-10 in the Class 2A final at Yakima County Stadium.
And “stun” might be an understatement.
“Coming back and scoring 13 runs in the last two innings was the most incredible experience that I’ve been through,” senior Joel Fern said. “I’ll never forget it for the rest of my life.”
Ephrata has eight state championships and with an 8-2 lead, No. 9 seemed to be on its way. Ridgefield’s players gave their versions of “we knew we could come back” afterward, but against an undefeated opponent?
Yeah, right.
As in: Yeah, they could; and right, they did. Conventional wisdom be damned.
Convincing arguments could be made that Ridgefield (20-3) should have lost 8-2, given those two two-out errors in the sixth and a botched potential game-ending double play by Ephrata (26-1) in the seventh.
“We’ve been down a lot more than that, and we’ve always come back,” senior Jon Parnell said. “You better play us to the last out because we’re going to keep coming back until we’re done.”
The Spudders had that finished look heading into the sixth. They had just four hits and, seemingly, little hope.
Then, they loaded the bases with one out, got a sacrifice fly from Jamie Kaneen to make it 8-3 with two out. Harmless, right?
Maybe.
But what happened next wasn’t.
Stuart Draper reached on a shortstop’s error that re-loaded the bases, and Parnell’s grounder to second also got booted, allowing another run to score. By the time the inning had ended, Ridgefield had batted around and scored five times to pull to within 8-7.
And a run by Ephrata in the bottom of the inning didn’t stop the momentum. That — and the game — nearly came to a halt in the top of the seventh when with one out and runners on first and second, Zack Parnell sent what looked like a double-play grounder to second. However, the throw to start it sailed into left field and allowed one run to score.
Kaneen got hit by a pitch to load the bases, bringing Draper to the plate.
“I decided if it was anywhere close, I was going to drive it somewhere, and if it wasn’t, I was going to take one for the team and get on first,” he said.
He walked to send in Fern with the tying run, and the Jon Parnell did the same to force in Zack Parnell and put Ridgefield ahead 10-9. The Spudders sent up 14 batters that inning, scoring eight times.
“All we’re going to do is battle back,” senior Josh Pfeifer said.
He pitched a complete game: “Not the most impressive outing, but they’re a good team.”
A foul pop to third in the bottom of the seventh finished an improbable win that included two unusual rallies. It ended a historic run for the program and an up-and-down year for coach Art Osmundson, who was dismissed as football coach after a long and successful run. He, understandably, did not want to discuss that.
“What a state-championship game,” Osmundson said. “To be down and comeback, wow.”
In 25 years, this was his fourth trip to the final four. Ridgefield was 0-2 against Ephrata, with losses to the Tigers in the 1983 final and 1999 semifinals.
At the end of this game, Fern lost sight of the ball on its arch toward his mitt.
“As soon as it went in my glove, my heart just stopped,” he said. “It was like, ‘I’m the state champion. Oh my God.’ The feeling is so surreal. It’s just a feeling I’ll never forget.”
Written by Andrew Seligman, The Columbian, May 26, 2002
