SELAH — The Naselle baseball team has more hardware coming to their trophy case after finishing in second place in the WIAA 1B state tournament.
The No. 2 seed Comets went 2-1 overall, including wins over No. 7 Sunnyside Christian and No. 11 DeSales before ultimately falling to No. 4 Dayton 7-4 in a back-and-forth championship game on Saturday, May 30.
Naselle won a wild 13-12 game against DeSales on Friday, May 29, highlighted by a walk-off two-run double by Eli Gardner (9). The Comets withstood a six-run rally from DeSales in the sixth inning, led by senior Leith Chadwick (16), who had a team-high three hits and three RBIs at the plate while also pitching five innings, allowing only six hits with six strikeouts.
In the 1B state championship game on May 30, against Dayton (20-4), Naselle fell into an early hole, trailing 3-0 in the first inning. The Comets were able to answer in the bottom half of the inning, with RBIs from Kyle Pakenen (11), Brodie Troffer (26) and Scott Henington (13), tying the game.
An RBI single from Naselle senior Trajen Ford (6) gave the Comets their first lead at 4-3 in the bottom of the second inning, a score that would hold until the top of the fifth inning. Dayton added three more runs — benefitting from a couple of uncharacteristic Comet miscues — to secure a 7-4 lead while keeping Naselle scoreless over the final five innings to win the WIAA 1B state championship.
Naselle left-handed starting pitcher Blythe Engleson (14) was effective, finishing with eight strikeouts while allowing five hits over five innings with three walks, but a season-high eight errors allowed the Dayton Bulldogs to secure the upset over the higher seeded Comets.
The Comets will lose four seniors to graduation: Trajen Ford (6), Scott Henington (13), Leith Chadwick (16) and Kyle Eastham (20).
Pelas named 2B Pacific League MVP
The Pacific 2B All League Teams for baseball and softball were released last week, highlighted by several members of the Ilwaco Fishermen and Lady Fishermen being named to all-star and academic lists.
Fisherman senior Dylan Pelas was unanimously voted the 2B Pacific League MVP, while Corbin Johnson, Chase Cunningham, Haddox Hazen and Cody Kaino were first team all-league selections. Sawyer Linquist and Keyton Fisher received second team nods, while Tyler Cutting was an honorable mention.
The Lady Fishermen softball team, under head coach Barbara Patana, was voted by other teams as the sportsmanship award winner for the league. Jayden Patana was voted to the second team and Emma Frame-Davenport was an honorable mention.
Ilwaco had several all-academic athletes for the softball and baseball teams. Softball honorees included Bailey Womack, Ana Petry, Jayden Patana, Sage Womack, Emma Frame-Davenport and Beth Naicavacava, all with GPAs above 3.5. Baseball had Brent Curry, Hunter Cutting, Caleb Parker, Haddox Hazen, Mark Ragan, Nate Lee, Alex Hernandez and Sawyer Linquist with GPAs above 3.5.
Raymond/South Bend had eight softball players named to the all-league list, including Emma Glazier (first team), Ava Pine (first team), Madisyn San (first team), Macey Enlow (second team), Ryann Mark (second team), Josie Houk (honorable mention), Liz Lewis (honorable mention) and Kami Harriman (honorable mention). The RSB baseball team had four players named, led by Caiden De Los Santos (first team), Jonah Rumbles (second team), Edgar Chavez (second team) and Keeyton Nichols (second team).
Srisopaporn, Shaw named voted to soccer all-league list
The Ilwaco soccer team had two players named to the 1A Evergreen Soccer All-League list last week.
Chayavit ‘check’ Srisopaporn (4) was named to the second team as a defender and freshman Kaleb Shaw was named honorable mention as a goalie. The Ilwaco soccer team was also recognized by their league for their team sportsmanship.
“In one game we had 13 calls to our favor because our defense was doing a great job holding that line,” said Ilwaco head coach Cindy Guzman. “Hopefully next year we have more growth in our program. We are heading in the right direction.”
Raymond/South Bend had several players named to the all-league list, led by junior star forward Jose Ramirez, named offensive player of the year. Ramirez finished with a remarkable 47 goals on the season, averaging nearly three per game.
Other RSB players named to the all league list included Adam Mora (first team), Alex Posada (first time), Michael Nunez (first team), Jayden Stigall (second team), Miguel Perez (second team) and Javier Silva (honorable mention).