Straughan pitches, hits Colton to title

CENTRALIA, Wash. – After defeating Oakville 2-1 in the 2B baseball championship game on Saturday, the Colton boys now have a shiny baseball trophy to set alongside their golden basketball that is so new it hasn’t even collected its first layer of dust.

Senior pitcher Jake Straughan went the distance as well as driving in his team’s only runs of the game with double in the bottom of the fifth inning.

The victory was anything but a foregone conclusion for the Wildcats though. When the first three Acorns singled in the first inning it looked like Oakville might have Straughan’s number. Straughan managed to retain his composure though and minimized the first inning damage allowing just the one run. The right hander allowed just one more hit the rest of the way.

Oakville’s Shawn Youckton had a no-hitter through 4 1/3 innings. But in the fifth inning, Brady Chadwick singled crisply into center field. Carter Dahmen then looped a single to right. Both advanced on a passed ball. Then with one out, Straughan lined a shot to left-center field to drive in both runners.

Straughan, who earlier this spring said that winning the state basketball championship was his favorite moment in his prep career, had a change of heart after Saturday’s win.

“Basketball is my sport and that (championship) was awesome, but I’ve got to say now that it’s this one (that means the most),” he said. “To do it with these guys, in my last game, in such a close game. All of those things combined make this the best.”