The Central Valley Bears edged the Ferris Saxons 6-5 in 11 innings in the District 8 4A championship baseball game.

Click the tab below to read my unedited game story.

By Greg Lee

gregl@spokesman.com; (509) 927-2180

Cory Mack couldn’t get the win on the mound. But the Central Valley senior will gladly settle for being in the right spot in the end.

With the bases loaded and facing a 0-2 count, Mack was hit by a pitch as the Bears pulled out a dramatic 6-5 over the Ferris Saxons in 11 innings in a District 8 4A baseball championship game that seemingly wouldn’t end Friday at Avista Stadium.

Central Valley (19-3) advances to regionals. The Bears will meet the Columbia Basin Big Nine No. 2 seed next Saturday at Avista Stadium.

“You’ve got to live for that, you’ve got to live for that,” Mack said of finding himself facing a 0-2 count. “Even though I didn’t get a hit, I got hit. It’s a great boost for our regional tournament.”

Now the question is will Ferris (15-7), which went into the district final riding a 10-game winning streak, will have enough pitching left to play a third game in four days this morning. The Saxons take on Lewis and Clark (15-8), a 6-4 winner over Mead in an earlier loser-out game Friday, this morning at 10 at Avista Stadium. The winner moves on to a regional play-in game Tuesday against the CBBN No. 3 seed at Avista.

Central Valley 6, Ferris 5: Both teams had countless opportunities in a game that last 3 hours and 40 minutes. In fact, it appeared the Saxons were sailing along with a 5-2 lead going into the bottom of the sixth. But the Bears rallied to tie it.

Sophomore Ryan Leone, the lone underclassman in CV’s senior-laden lineup, smacked a two-run double and the Bears tied it at 5-5 when Leone scored on a balk.

Mack, a left-hander, pitched into the eighth inning, but gave way to lefty Joe Arlt after allowing a leadoff walk.

After Arlt (3-1) struck out the first batter he faced, he proceeded to walk the next two batters, loading the bases.

But Arlt, who went to a 3-2 count moments later, got back-to-back strikeouts to work out of the jam.

The Saxons, who beat CV in both regular-season games, loaded the bases again in the ninth with two outs. With Keller Ewing at the plate, Ferris coach Jim Sharkey put his runners in motion before Arlt started his delivery. Arlt purposely threw the pitch outside and catcher Coedy Cooley tagged the oncoming runner to end the inning.

Arlt got the Saxons in order in the 10^th and 11^th.

“Joe Arlt hit his spots, he had his curveball, and he did everything right,” Mack said. “He competed. I’m happy for Joe. I wanted him to get the win.”

Ferris scored two runs to take a 3-2 lead in the fourth then added an unearned run in the fifth before scoring its final run in the sixth on a run-scoring single by Ben Goodwin.

The Saxons stranded 17 runners and CV left 11 on base.

“We made about every mistake we could possibly make and to win a game after all that, it’s incredible,” CV coach Barry Poffenroth said. “We kept battling. We had way too many mistakes, though. How many runs did we give them? You can’t make that many mistakes and win 90 percent of the time. We got lucky.”

Lewis and Clark 6, Mead 4: Dean Neilson hit a three-run homer in the first inning and the Tigers scored the go-ahead run in the third as they held off the Panthers (15-7).

Neilson went the distance on the mound, allowing just four hits.

Mead played without senior standout catcher Jake Schrader, who pulled off a rare triple crown as the Greater Spokane League’s top hitter. He was sick.

Donnie Santos knocked in what would prove to be the winning run in the third with a single.

 

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