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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Selah tops Clarkston in quarterfinals

Jason Shoot Correspondent

YAKIMA – Clarkston can sympathize with an unfortunate archer who has used up all of his arrows.

With staff ace Trent Line unavailable, Clarkston baseball coach Bill Cridlebaugh emptied his bullpen in what ultimately turned out to be a futile effort to propel his team into next week’s State 2A semifinals. Selah unleashed an eight-run second inning to roar ahead of Clarkston on Saturday, and the Vikings cruised to a 19-6 quarterfinal win at Parker Field.

Line pitched seven innings and struck out 12 in Clarkston’s come-from-behind, 3-1 victory over Ephrata earlier in the day. Cridlebaugh couldn’t find a player capable of duplicating that performance against Selah, which capitalized on 14 hits, 16 walks and four hit batters against four Bantams hurlers.

“You can’t walk people,” Cridlebaugh said. “It gives them so many opportunities. If you make them hit it, well, 70 percent of the time they’ll be outs. We didn’t do that today.”

Selah (23-2) sent 14 batters to the plate in the second inning, including nine of them before Clarkston recorded an out. The eight runs were more than enough for Vikings starter Justin Windsor, who improved to 9-0 with an up-and-down, seven-inning effort against the Bantams (15-11).

Brooks Archer lined a pair of doubles and drove in five runs for Selah.

Don Perconti was 4 for 4 with a stolen base to lead Clarkston, and his two-run double in the third pulled the Bantams within 9-5. Selah responded with three runs in the top of the fourth and added three more runs in the fifth and seventh innings, respectively.

Line and J.T. Rimmelspacher contributed with two hits apiece to lead Clarkston’s 12-hit attack.

Clarkston 3, Ephrata 1: In the day’s opener, Line dominated Ephrata but was two outs away from finishing his season on a losing note. The Bantams took advantage of a crucial passed ball and scored three runs in the top of the seventh to rally from a one-run deficit and steal the victory.

With one out and a runner on third, Jaron Jenkins swung and missed a pitch from Ephrata starter Jared Lesko. The pitch skipped away from catcher Kory Frank, however, allowing the tying run to score and Jenkins to reach first base. Steven Line then roped a double to right field to score Jenkins, and Dale Entel followed with an RBI single to give the Bantams a 3-1 lead.

Trent Line scattered five hits in seven innings, allowed one unearned run, struck out 12 and walked two.

Selah 8, Pullman 0: Selah starter Derek Wilton boosted his record to 11-0, holding Pullman’s offense to just four singles in the regional semifinal matchup.

J.T. Levenseller kept the Greyhounds in contention before fading in the sixth, when Selah scored four runs to extend its lead to 7-0. Levenseller (6-3) struck out seven and walked one, but he was touched for 13 hits (all singles) in six innings.

Wilton’s only nervous moment came in the first when his wild pitch allowed Pullman’s Alex Scourey to advance to third with one out. Wilton struck out Marty Guettinger, however, and he ended the inning when he induced a soft grounder to the mound from Tyler Druffel. Wilton struck out nine Greyhounds and walked one.