Freeman takes fourth; Colfax second

YAKIMA – The Freeman Scotties earned their second state baseball trophy Saturday, but not the way they wanted to.

After winning 10 of 11 games leading up to the State 1A tournament’s final weekend, Freeman struggled at County Stadium for the second straight day and fell to Cashmere 4-1 to finish fourth. To add to the frustration, the loss was the third straight over two seasons to a Cashmere squad that Freeman sees as a rival.

The Scotties managed only six hits and one run in 14 innings in Yakima.

“It’s so hard to get here and then this is not the way we envisioned finishing,” Freeman coach Chad Ripke said. “Our kids are great competitors but we didn’t play up to our caliber here.”

For the second straight day, Freeman got a top-notch pitching performance. Jake Phipps allowed just four hits in six innings. But with the offense struggling and no margin for error, he was undone by the fourth.

Phipps allowed just three singles but a hit batsman and an wild pitch added up to a 3-1 Cashmere lead.

McKabe Cottrell singled in Freeman’s only run with one out in the first inning. JT Neely led off with a walk, stole second and came in on Cottrell’s safety.

2B

Adna secured the state title with a 4-2 win over Colfax at Wheeler Field in Centralia.

Colfax, which was eliminated in the first round at last year’s state tournament, made it to the title game this season with wins over Okanogan, Asotin and Toledo.