YAKIMA — The Chimacum baseball team narrowly missed out on its second Class 1A state title in four years this weekend.
The Cowboys fell to Cashmere 5-4 on a walk-off single in the bottom of the seventh inning of the 1A championship game at Yakima County Stadium on Saturday.
Nick Tarver’s single ended the game moments after Chimacum tied things up with a two-run rally in the top of the seventh.
It was a bittersweet finish to the Cowboys’ second straight trip to the state semifinals; last year’s team finishing third with an 18-4 win against the same Cashmere Bulldogs.
“I’m very proud of these guys,” Chimacum coach Loren Bishop said.
“It was actually easier last year getting third than it is this year getting second.
“When you go to the championship game and don’t win it . . . yeah, the boys are a little down.
“I’m disappointed we didn’t win, but I’m not disappointed in these guys.”
Chimacum (18-4 overall) got some timely hits and a gritty performance from ace Landon Cray on the mound to beat Meridian 6-4 in Friday’s semifinal and advance to the championship.
The Cowboys, trailing 4-2 entering the seventh, tied Saturday’s game against Cashmere (21-3) on an RBI double from Cray and a sacrifice fly from Devin Manix.
Cashmere responded in the bottom half against sophomore starter Austin McConnell, getting a one-out double from Jake Dilly followed by the game-winning single by Tarver.
“They came in there and they got some clutch bases hits when they needed,” Bishop said.
“It wasn’t like we went up there and made mistakes and gave it to them.
“They went out there and took it.”
The Cowboys’ second-place trophy is the team’s third piece of state hardware in four years.
That includes last year’s third-place finish and the 2007 team’s state title.
With only three seniors leaving — Tyson Eldridge, Dillon Dukek and Adam Osmer — Bishop said there’s a good chance more trophies will be added in the near future.
“I think that even the WIAA officials said we’ll see you guys here next year,” Bishop said.
“They know what we got. We’re a solid group of kids. We hit the ball well. If we can carry that into next year, then, yeah, we’re going to be right up there.”
Dylan Brown led the Chimacum bats Saturday, going 2-for-3 with a two-run double that gave Chimacum a 2-0 lead in the top of the fourth.
Cashmere responded with runs in fourth, fifth and sixth against McConnell for a 4-2 edge entering the final frame. That set up the late-inning dramatics.
“They definitely are going to want to be there again next year,” Bishop said of his sophomore-laden squad. “They got to that championship game and got a shot at it, but they just fell a little bit short.”
McConnell went 6 1/3 innings in the loss, striking out six while giving up nine hits, two walks and four earned runs.
“[Austin] was still throwing hard and he had a good curveball going [in the seventh],” Bishop said. “[Cashmere] came up and hit the ball when they needed to.”
Friday’s win avenged a 3-2 loss to Meridian at the 1A Tri-District two weeks ago.
That game ended when Cray hit a batter with the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh inning to score the winning run.
There were no such heroics by the Trojans this time around, however, as the Cowboys lineup provided enough of a cushion for Cray to survive a brief three-hit, two-run rally in the seventh.
The sophomore left-hander even punctuated the win with a strikeout, his tenth of the game, to end it.
“As much as it was a team effort all the way through, he gutted it out on the mound,” Bishop said.
All nine starters got at least one hit in the win.
The Cowboys got several two-out hits, including an RBI single in the third by Quinn Eldridge, and had two sacrifice flies from Cray and Quinn Eldridge.
McConnell was 3-for-3 with two doubles and an RBI, while Cray, Lucas Dukek and Dillon Dukek each added two hits apiece.
“We were plugging away at them all day long,” said Bishop, whose team is 11-3 in state playoffs during his seven-year tenure.
“Everybody did their job when they had to do it.”
CASHMERE 5, CHIMACUM 4 (SATURDAY)
Chimacum 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 – 4 6 1
Cashmere 0 0 0 1 2 1 1 — 5 9 1
WP- L. Dilly; LP- McConnell (3-2)
Pitching Statistics
Chimacum: McConnell 6.1IP (9hits, 6K, 2BB, 4ER).
Cashmere: Johnson 4IP; Dilly 3IP.
Hitting Statistics
Chimacum: Brown 2-3 (2B, 2RBI, R); Cray 1-3 (2B, RBI); McConnell 1-2; Q. Eldridge 1-3 (R); T. Eldridge 1-3.
CHIMACUM 6, MERIDIAN 4 (FRIDAY)
Chimacum 2 0 1 1 0 1 1 – 6 15 0
Meridian 1 0 0 0 0 1 2 — 4 10 0
WP- Cray (7-1); LP- M. Tripp
Pitching Statistics
Chimacum: Cray 7IP (10K, 2BB, 10 hits, 4ER).
Meridian: Tripp 5IP, Wiebe 2IP.
Hitting Statistics
Chimacum: McConnell 3-3 (2 2B, RBI); Q. Eldridge 1-2 (SacFly, 2RBI); Cray 2-4 (2B, 3B, RBI, SacFly, 2R); D. Dukek 2-4 (2R); L. Dukek 2-4 (RBI).
Meridian: Slesk 2-3 (HR).