Palouse Patriots end season on 1-2 run at AAA finals

Palouse Patriots, a team which this year revived AAA Legion action for Whitman County players, came to the end of the line Monday when they were derailed by the North Stars. The loss ended the state title bid at 1-2 in the double elimination state tourney which started Saturday in Chehalis and Centralia.

The Patriots faced the North Stars in the Monday elimination round after booking a split during the tournament’s weekend action. They started the run with a one-run loss to the Vancouver Cardinals, but stayed in the show for another day when they had a walk-off win over the Borders team in Sunday’s action. That put them at 1-1 and in need of a win string to finish out the show.

The North Stars, a team which took a toll on the Palouse Patriots in the district qualifying rounds last week, crunched the Pats 15-3 Monday to end the season for the local club.

The Patriots and North Stars, a team made up of players from schools on the north side of the Spokane Legion District, played three times in district action at Shadle Park, and the Stars defeated the Patriots twice.

Monday, the Patriots scored all three of their runs in the first inning before Stars pitcher Kameron Kinder settled into a grove.

The North Stars took the lead with four runs in the fourth inning and added 11 runs over the next four innings to shut the game down on the 10-run margin rule. The North Stars finished with 11 hits.

Payton Kallaher started on the mound for the Pats and pitched into the fourth inning. Relievers Kyle Appel and Grady Benton finished out the game and the summer season.

Kinder allowed four hits, struck out three batters and allowed four walks to get the win.

Appel doubled in the last game and Kallaher paired singles to lead the four hit attack.

Sunday, the Patriots came from behind to score two runs in the bottom of the last inning to stay in the playoffs. They edged Borders 13-12.

They were trailing 11-12 going into the last inning against Borders when Chase Hayton rapped a two-out hit to score Kyle Appel and Parker Huber to pull out a 13-12 win and keep the Pats in the series action.

The Patriots scored six runs in the second inning to take a 6-2 lead, and they had a 10-3 lead after five innings, but Borders came charging back for seven runs in the top of the seventh inning to take the lead.

Benton, the fourth pitcher used by the Patriots, was credited with the win.

Huber started on the mound for the Pats and had a 7-2 lead after working four innings.

Kallaher booked three RBIs with two doubles and a single.

In Saturday’s opener, the Patriots and Vancouver locked up in a 5-5 tie after five innings, and the Cardinals scored the tie breaker in the top of the eighth inning for the 6-5 win which advanced them to the quarter-finals.

Huber rapped a two-run homer and singled to lead the nine-hit Patriots’ offense.

The 1-2 run at state left the Patriots at 16-22 overall record. They entered the district playoffs after posting a 4-4 record in league play, and they placed second in the district playoffs to qualify for the state finals .

Appel, Huber, Cal Gregory, Blake Bodey and Kelan Becker were Colfax players on the Patriots squad this year. Reese Chadwick and John Bean joined from Colton, and Tritan Wilson signed on from Moscow. All other players on the squad came from Pullman.