Shadle earns district title, berth in state tournament

Pitching overshadowed hitting during Saturday’s four-game District 8 4A baseball tournament at Avista Stadium, but Shadle Park made good on early offensive opportunities to win its second championship in three years.

Three of the top four batters in the Highlanders order combined on 5-for-5 hitting in the first three innings, scoring all three runs in their 3-2 title victory over Mt. Spokane.

The win secured for Shadle (17-5) its third straight state playoff berth. The Highlanders will play Big Nine regular-season champion Richland (21-2), the district runner-up, in the first round on Saturday in Kennewick.

Mt. Spokane (16-5) plays Ferris (16-7), a 5-0 winner over University, on Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Avista for the Greater Spokane League’s second state qualifier. That winner will face last year’s state champion, Southridge (16-7), which twice beat Richland during district play.

“This one is special,” said Highlanders coach Ron Brooks of his team’s District 8 4A championship. “I know North Central went to three straight regionals, but this is the first time Shadle’s done that. I’m just going to enjoy the moment.”

Shadle had advanced to the title round with a 3-0 win earlier over Ferris, scoring two runs in the first inning on the first of two Ian Shook hits. His second led to an insurance run in the third after Ferris scored in the top of the inning.

It was enough for Brian Kranches, who overcame wildness (six walks) by allowing just three hits.

Against Mt. Spokane, leadoff batter Billy Rigsby was hit by a pitch and No. 3 batter Kody Anderson singled him home. Both Rigsby and Anderson singled in the third and Josh Powell followed with his second hit, an RBI double, as Shadle increased its lead to 3-2.

The Wildcats came back for two runs in the bottom of the inning. Brad Moritz, playing for one of two starters and four players total who were out for disciplinary reasons, walked and Cameron Joslyn singled. Luke Raynor and Mark Purser drove them in.

But they only threatened one other time as pitching took center stage.

Both winner Chris Bates and loser Keith Tappe, after his slow start that included three hit batters, were effective.

Bates kept the Wildcats off balance with a two-seam fastball, curve and knuckleball to improve his record to 7-2.

“I didn’t have my best stuff today, but was throwing strikes for the most part and got it done,” he said.

Brooks said that Bates is effective when he moves around the ball and locates, which he did in the title game.

“He had a great year for us,” Brooks said.

Tappe got stronger as the game went on, at times overpowering Shadle hitters with his speed in the late innings, counterbalanced by his breaking stuff.

“We wouldn’t have expected anything less from a senior,” said Mt. Spokane coach Alex Schuerman. “It’s bittersweet to see him pitch so well and not get a win out of it.”

“We knew he has a curveball and knew that’s what I was going to see,” said Powell, who went 3 for 4. “I had to sit back on it and I saw the ball well.”

Powell would have been perfect at the plate, legging out a high hop infield hit in the third, but Anderson thought it was a fly ball and was tagged out going back to first base.

The unusual play had occurred to University earlier in Mt. Spokane’s 3-0 win over the Titans to reach the finals.

Purser singled in a third-inning run. Nick Sturm drove in another in the fourth. Bryan Rayner squeezed home Tappe with the third run as Joslyn pitched the shutout.

In the loser-out game between Ferris and U-Hi that preceded the district championship, two plays loomed large. Mike Conrad of the Titans was thrown out at home by left fielder Jeremy Templeton in the first inning while trying to score on a base hit.

Ferris’s Chris Bozo lined a ball off Titans pitcher J.D. Peterson’s leg and Ryan Murphy, who had led off the bottom of the first with a double and moved to third, beat the throw home.

It led to a four-run inning, including two on Chad Berland’s single.

Freshman pitcher Bud Kittredge cruised. In 11 playoff innings this week, Kittredge allowed just two runs.