Curlew Faces Another Desales Test

Gary Kaatz saw no legitimate rea son to scout DeSales during last Saturday’s State B baseball regional in Walla Walla.

Coach Kaatz’s Curlew Cougars qualified for the state semifinals on Friday by defeating Northwest Christian and Pateros. There was still time to plan a fact-finding trip to Walla Walla, but Kaatz selected a different strategy.

“It’s almost better for our kids to keep (DeSales) a secret,” said the 26-year Curlew coach.

Curlew (19-9) and DeSales (22-1) will play at 1 p.m. Friday for a spot in Saturday’s state championship game. The first B semifinal at Yakima County Stadium pits Mossyrock against Touchet (21-4), at 10 a.m.

Curlew absorbed a five-inning, 10-0 loss from DeSales at last year’s regional. The Cougars have played at eight regionals in the last 10 years, but had never advanced to the final four until last weekend’s surprising play at Spokane Falls Community College.

The DeSales baseball story is quite different. The Walla Walla private school has played in at least 10 consecutive state semifinals. Last year was the first since 1990 that DeSales didn’t play for the title.

Kaatz plans to start senior Russell Strandberg (8-7) against DeSales, but he’ll quickly call upon junior Lyn Jackson (5-2) and sophomore Craig Groth (6-0) if necessary.

“If we don’t make errors and we continue to hit the ball well, we should be fine,” Kaatz said. “We’ve been facing decent pitching and we’ve hit well.”

Curlew’s offensive leaders are: senior Jeremy Groth, .530 and seven home runs; Strandberg, .390 with 41 runs batted in; senior Sean Tedrow, .380; senior Matt Anderson, .340; Craig Groth, .330; and junior Stan Kocol, .302.