Crawdads’ bid ends in 10th

A playoff bid by the Colfax Crawdads, who qualified for the eight-place slot in the Spokane fall Babe Ruth league championship round at Shadle Park Saturday ended with an 8-9 loss in the 10th inning.

The Crawdads played top-seeded Mission Valley, Mont., in the opening round and had the number-one team on the ropes at 6-1 after four innings with Patrick Jacobs on the mound.

Mission battled back and trailed 8-7 with two out and two strikes on the batter in the bottom of the seventh.

“We were one pitch away from taking them out,” Coach Brian Jacobs lamented.

Mission tied it, and the two teams played three extra innings before Mission scored the decider with two out in the bottom of the 10th.

After surviving the Colfax derailment attempt, the league champs went on to defeat the Spokane Dodgers to win the playoff.

The Crawdads finished 5-6 overall on the season with seven members of this year’s team eligible to play next years.