Whitman Cougars advance to state semi round

Jeffrey Marlow of the Cougars takes a swing in one of the early games of the state American Legion A finals at Rogers High School in Spokane. Marlow pitched a complete game win over Gig Harbor in the Sunday game.

Whitman Cougars Tuesday defeated Eastmont of Wenatchee 11-9 in the quarter-final round for the State A American Legion tournament at Spokane to advance to the semi-final round Wednesday. The Cougars were booked to play Chewelah, a team they topped by a run in the district finals last week.

The other two teams in the final four, Walla Walla and Sedro Woolley, were booked to play in the other semi-final Wednesday.

Tuesday's quarter-final win over Eastmont bumped the Cougars tourney run to 4-0. They erased an early Eastmont lead with a five-run breakout in the fourth inning and shut down a ninth inning rally for the mid-staters to take the win.

Eastmont actually out-hit Whitman 13-10, but the Cougars again put the runners across the plate when they needed to get the job done.

Kelan Becker allowed six hits after starting on the mound, and Connor Parrish, who closed out the last half of the game, allowed seven hits and just three more runs.

Grady Benton singled and paired doubles to lead the Cougar hits.

Jeffrey Marlow had two doubles and Nate Akesson singled and doubled.

Zane Wilson put his mark on the game when he was hit four times to get on base.

The Cougars' 3-0 run in tournament pool play up to the quarter-final included a 14-4 win over University Saturday, a 6-3 win over Gig Harbor Sunday and a 12-8 win over Woodinville Monday.

In Monday's win over Woodinville, Blake Bodey rapped two doubles, and Akesson hit a single and double for four of the six Cougar hits.

Woodinville out-hit the Cougars 8-6, but they left 15 runners on base.

Other hits by the Cougars were a double by Payton Kallaher and a bunt single by Chase Hayton.

Although they only had six hits, the Cougars put traffic on the bases with Marlow, Parrish and Zane Wilson each getting two walks.

Benton, who was hit by two pitches, scored twice.

Benton, Kallaher, Parrish and Akesson pitched the win.

In the 14-4 opener over University Saturday, the Cougars rolled out 19 hits with Akesson tagging four singles. Kallaher, Noah Beach, Hayton, Marlow and Wilson each booked two hits.

Wilson closed it down on the 10-run rule with a walk-off double in the bottom of the fifth.

Becker started and pitched into the fourth inning. He allowed five singles and walked four.

Tom Higgins pitched to the last two batters in the fourth inning, and Akesson iced the U team in the fifth inning.

University stranded 11 runners, and the Cougars stranded eight.

Marlow pitched a complete game Sunday against Gig Harbor for the 6-3 Cougar win. He allowed seven hits, struck out four and walked just two.

The Cougars also had seven hits with Hayton tagging a double and single and Benton rapping two singles. Marlow, Parrish and Wilson had the other hits and each had an RBI. Beach also scored after being hit by a pitch.