Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Austin Jones pitched 5 strikeouts in four innings
POMEROY — The Colton Wildcats baseball season ended on a bittersweet note for Coach Steve Judy.
The Asotin Panthers handed the Wildcats their final loss of the season with a score of 14-3 on May 3 in Pomeroy.
Steve Judy’s son, Kelton Judy, led the offense for the Panthers.
“My own son did most of the damage in Asotin,” said Steve Judy. “I hugged him and congratulated him for having such a good game at my team’s expense.”
Kelton Judy plays second-base for the Panthers. He went 3 for 4 at-bats with 7 RBIs.
“I took a coaching position at Colton High School and he grew up and played for Asotin,” said Steve Judy.
Colton’s Austin Jones pitched and gave up 10 runs but only 3 were earned runs. He had five strikeouts in four innings.
“Unfortunately our defense couldn’t back him up,” said Steve Judy. “It was the error bug that came back and bit us again. We had five errors in the game. They are worried about making the play before they catch the ball.”
Trent Druffel had two hits with a double for the Wildcats.
On April 29, the Wildcats played the Colfax High School junior varsity team and lost 9-4. The game went all seven innings, which was the first time in the season for Colton.
“We match up better with a J-V team. We have young guys with young pitching,” said Steve Judy.
Two freshmen pitched during the game against Colfax. It was Colton Pfaff’s second time pitching and Liam Orfe’s first time when he finished the game.
The Wildcats’ offense was Jones having two hits and one RBI. Druffel had two hits and an RBI. Kelton Devlin had a hit and one RBI.
But trouble on defense stemmed from being a young team with more than a year between seasons.
“Some of the players didn’t get to play for a year and a half due to COVID. It made it tough to get back on the field and play,” said Steve Judy. “Our boys are Whitman County boys who work for the summer … so their experience comes through playing high school baseball.”
He hopes they learned and looks forward to next year.
“It was an enjoyable season,” said Steve Judy. ”It was great to be a team.”
Bill Stevenson is the former editor of the Whitman County Gazette, Colfax Daily Bulletin and Franklin Connection. He has nearly 30 years of journalism experience covering news in Eastern Washington.
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