River Ridge falls short of state semis

2A BASEBALL: Selah ends River Ridge’s season at districts

AARON WASSER; For The Olympian | • Published May 24, 2009

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YELM – The giant killers came close to slaying yet another titan Saturday, but in the end, River Ridge missed out on the Class 2A state tournament’s final four.

The Hawks, surprise winners of the District IV tournament last weekend following victories over Centralia and previously undefeated Chehalis, kept their mojo going in Saturday’s opener with a 7-4 win over Sequim.

Despite valiant comebacks in the regional semifinal, River Ridge’s season ended with a 9-8 loss to Selah.

“For these guys to bounce back and become men, let alone being about baseball, but becoming men; they grew up a lot,” said Hawks coach Chad Arko, whose team finished 16-8. “They went through a lot of adversity and they turned the corner. Honestly, three weeks ago, I didn’t know if we’d be here.”

Brandon Boyle , a junior right-hander, improved to 7-1 after he struck out 11, walked two and scattered seven hits – all singles – over seven innings against Sequim (11-12). The Hawks scored six runs in the fourth, with the big blow coming on a three-run Emil Swartling double.

Game 2 was a much taller order. Selah (23-1) has spent the majority of the season atop the state’s Class 2A rankings and cruised to an 8-0 win over two-time state defending champion Sehome in its opener Saturday.

The Vikings and Hawks exchanged the lead six times and combined to record 24 hits, nine for extra bases.

River Ridge jumped out to a two-run lead in the second, but the Vikings answered with four runs in the bottom of the inning.

The Hawks scored two runs in each of the second, third, fourth and fifth innings. Some of the offensive highlights were supplied via a third-inning Jon Matos homer, a fourth-inning Matos RBI single and a Steven Schoonover’s RBI triple in the fifth which tied the game and then momentarily gave River Ridge the lead thanks to a Boyle sacrifice fly to right.

Selah struck back in the bottom of the fifth when Kurt Lindemann’s second double of the game tied the score at eight before Trevor Dallman, who homered during a four-run Selah second, singled to left to give the Vikings the lead for good.

“It was a great game,” Selah coach Mike Archer said. “Lead changes, guys swinging the bats and great defense by both teams and two very energetic baseball clubs with a lot of emotions. It was a fun game to be a part of and we were fortunate to come out ahead.”

Schoonover was 3-for-4 with a double, triple and two RBI and Jake Pierpoint had three hits for the Hawks.

Pierpoint said he was proud of what the Hawks were able to accomplish but thought it might take a little time to fully appreciate the season.

“You don’t really realize how bad it’s going to hurt until it happens,” he said. “You wish them luck, but at the same time you wish it was you. “It feels good, what we did and what we accomplished, when you put it all together. Right now, it hurts.”