Patriots’ season ends with big McD chapter

Two great games and one clunker in the senior Legion regional round at McDonald Park wrapped up the season for the Pullman Patriots last week. The Pats came out of the Colfax show with a 1-2, not enough to make the top eight finals underway in Selah.

Jackson Webb of the Patriots gets a greeting at the plate after tagging a homer against Bellevue at McDonald. Webb's blast came before the Patriots pulled out a final inning comeback win to top their 1-2 campaign in the state Legion regionals. Bellevue catcher Harison Deimert is in the foreground.

Pacific Tech, the Kelso-Longview area team which hammered the Patriots in the last Colfax game, took the number two slot for state, and the Twin City Titans, who defeated the Pats and Pacific in two close games, took the number-one ticket.

Highlight of the tourney for Patriots was a late-night comeback win over Bellevue in the Wednesday night elimination game. The two clubs paired off after each sustained a loss.

Pullman jumped to a six run lead, saw it vanish in the wake of a Bellevue resurgence in the last two innings and then scored three runs in the bottom of the last-chance ninth.

Final score was 13-12 for the Patriots after Bellevue pegged a 12-10 lead going into the last inning.

The Pats’ last chance comeback was keyed by JJ Robinson’s rap to left field to score the tie making runs. His hit came after Colfax grad Brandon Hoadley, called in to pinch hit, advanced runners into scoring position with a sacrifice fly.

Robinson’s rap tied the game at 12-12, and the Pats scored the winning run when Nick Scourey, who earlier advanced runners with a bunt single, scored on a passed ball.

Nick Cundy had a solid start on the mound for the Patriots, but the Bellevue bats came alive against relievers, and they scored four runs in the eighth and four more in the ninth to post the 12-10 lead.

Pullman reliever Curt Peterson, who was roughed up in the ninth, managed to get the last two outs to keep the gap at two runs and set the scene for Pullman’s amazing comeback.

Mooney and Robinson each had three hits in the game. Jackson Webb of Asotin clubbed a homer. Webb, Mason Van Lith, Brennan Ball and Scourey each had two hits.

The Pats late night celebration after the Bellevue win turned out to be their last real highlight.

In Thursday’s elimination round they were hammered 16-5 by Pacific Tech. The Patriots didn’t score until the last inning when Webb hit a bases loaded triple. Webb scored on a Pac overthrow at third for four runs after a long dry spell.

Nine Patriot errors took the zing out of the last game early.

JJ Robinson started for the Pats. The errors and Pac hits led to a 8-0 lead after three innings. Coach Evan Hecker called Hoadley, who had pitched a big game in the opener, back in an attempt to shut down the Pac offense.

Pacific lefty Quentin Hakkenin threw the five-hit win to advance the Kelso area team to state.

Wednesday, Hoadley, who could have been pitching his last start on the mound a McDonald, threw a two-hit gem at the Twin City Titans but sustained a 0-3 loss.

Headley was dueling Garret Anderson, left handed ace for the Titans.

The first game went 0-0 for four frames. The Titans broke the deadlock in the fifth with a triple by D.S. Griffin and a wild pitch. The Titans scored one more on a sacrifice fly and they scored their last run on another passed ball with Patriot’s catcher Jeremy Druffel attempting to locate the ball behind the plate.

Robinson, Webb and Van Lith had hits for the Pats.

The Titans Thursday pegged a two-run win over Pac to get the first state ticket. Pac then crunched the Pats in the last game for the number-two ticket.

The Pats finished 24-25 for the season.