Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
a Colton baseball, Ankerson 7048
The Colton Wildcats are again one of eight 1B baseball teams left playing in Washington in mid-May as they travel to meet Naselle High School Saturday for a state quarterfinal game in Winlock., Wash. Game time is 1 p.m.
Colton advanced by beating Cusick May 12 in an elimination game in Colbert. The Wildcats opened the postseason the week before with a 15-7 loss to Odessa.
Naselle, in Pacific County, is a logging town just inland from the Long Beach Peninsula. Winlock is off Interstate 5 south of Chehalis.
Colton 12, Cusick 1
It was morning baseball in Colbert, Wash., last Saturday on the grounds of Northwest Christian High School, a former Catholic seminary property north of Spokane.
First pitch was at 9 a.m. for the 1B District 7 and 9 elimination game between the Wildcats and Cusick.
The sun shined high and Colton (14-5 overall, 10-1 league) started scoring runs.
Up 2-0 in the second inning after a two-run double by Reece Chadwick, Kian Ankerson hit a double with runners on, and two balks later it was 6-0.
Luke Vining hit another double to make it 8-0, and Ankerson came back up again.
He hit deep to centerfield as Vining took off for third and Cusick ran the ball down and threw to a cut-off man, then home.
Vining rounded third, gunned down the baseline and dove for the plate. The ball arrived, Vining’s hand crossing home as the umpire made the call.
Ankerson stood at third. It was 10-0.
Ankerson, a sophomore, then scored on a passed ball. Cusick (9-5, 9-4) later got the third out, jogged off the field and gathered at the front of their dugout.
“Lotta baseball here, lotta baseball,” said coach Tell Hamilton.
Up to bat, the Panthers scored one run to make it 10-1 going into the bottom of the fourth.
Colton bat again, and Ankerson hit a single, stole second and got to third when Matt Wolf put the ball in play.
Sophomore Jackson Meyer followed with a two-run base hit to centerfield for 12-1.
Cusick had three more outs to keep the game going and came up short, Colton winning on the 10-run rule in the fifth inning.
“I thought it was a great game. Playing for their season and our guys responded the way they did,” said Colton coach Pat Doumit.
Additional Wildcats hits came from seniors Tom Wolf and Cameron Bean, who both had two hits, each with a double. Chadwick, a junior, pitched all five innings to allow one hit with two walks and six strikeouts.
Chadwick is set to take the mound again Saturday against Naselle, with Bean ready in relief. Both are four-year starters for Colton, Bean starting games at pitcher since he was a sophomore. Chadwick played elsewhere on the field since he was an eighth-grader.
“We have co-no. 1 pitchers,” said Doumit. “Reece is more of a power arm and Cam’s got movement on everything he throws.”
Other state 1B quarterfinal games Saturday are Pomeroy vs. Odessa, Almira/Coulee/Hartline vs. Sunnyside Christian and Quilcene vs. Evergreen Lutheran.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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