High School Baseball: Toutle Lake recovers to claim 3rd-place State trophy
PHOTO GALLERY – Fighting Ducks bounce back from semifinal heartbreak, defeat NW Christian 6-3 for bronze finish
Skyler Smith for BlastZoneMedia.com / blastzonenews@gmail.com
2B WIAA Baseball Championship / State Report
SELAH — Less than 24 hours after watching a trip to the state championship game slip away in heartbreaking fashion, the Toutle Lake baseball team returned to Carlon Park with one final opportunity to leave the WIAA 2B State Baseball Tournament with something to show for its season.
The Fighting Ducks made sure they didn’t leave Wood Field empty-handed.
Toutle Lake erased an early two-run deficit and broke open a tie game with a four-run sixth inning Saturday afternoon, defeating Northwest Christian (Colbert) 6-3 to secure third place in the state and cap yet another memorable postseason run.
For a team which entered the tournament as a double-digit seed and then found itself just one unfortunate inning away from playing for a State championship, the victory provided both closure and validation after Friday’s extra-inning semifinal loss to Napavine.
In related news, the Tigers of Napavine went on to win the State title on Saturday evening. That’s salt in the wound for the Ducks if they allow it to be, but the East Cowlitz County kids were keeping their heads and hearts in their own dugout, and keeping all things in perspective on the season’s final day.
“There weren’t many people that thought we were going to show up here and win a trophy, but there wasn’t a doubt in our minds,” Toutle Lake head coach Chris Byrd said. “We’ve played well at the end. For the last three weekends in a row we’ve played tough teams and we’ve beat them.”
The plucky Ducks arrived in Selah last weekend as the No. 10 seed and knocked off No. 7 Mount Vernon Christian in convincing fashion before going eight rounds with No. 2 Kittitas in “the weirdest game”. Toutle Lake made the return trip to Carlon Park this week, only to fall No. 3 Napavine in an extra-inning semifinal that ended one step short of a State title appearance.
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