Moses Lake wins battle over Central Basin

There was nothing left to play for except pride.

As Central Basin and Moses Lake met on the field Saturday night at Larson Field, both had already been eliminated from the 15-year-old Babe Ruth State Tournament, both were 0-2 in pool play and now, both were shooting for a piece of the other, with neither side willing to budge.

It took nine innings to decide a winner, but Moses Lake finally came out on top 8-7.

"I told the kids we were playing to win the Basin," said Moses Lake manager Ed McNamara. "It is our ballpark and we wanted to beat Ephrata and there is some pride there too."

It could have been a tournament worth forgetting, but the match up Saturday in each team's final game of the season, proved otherwise. The pitching, at bats and defensive plays was as if each side were playing for the state trophy.

Pride was the remaining trophy Moses Lake came out to play for. After an 8-1 loss to Eastlake to open the tournament, then a 3-0 shutout to South Kitsap, the runs came alive for Moses Lake.

The winning run was a suicide squeeze with one out, runners on the corners and #6 at the plate.

"We had to score and the kid at the plate was a great bunter and the kid on third had good speed and we weren't doing a lot at the plate," McNamara said.

The run put Moses Lake up 8-7 with the bottom of the ninth left for Central Basin. McNamara brought in Travis Matzen to close out the game and got the first two batters out, but a shortstop error kept the door open for Central Basin to take another swipe at Moses Lake.

A similar situation occurred in the eighth as Jim Yeager reached base for Central Basin with two outs on a third baseman error and moved to second on the bad throw. Yeager scored on Aaron Bracht's single to center field.

"In the ninth, we get two outs and have the same thing and it is unbelievable how you start thinking about these things," McNamara said.

Moses Lake's Jon Redford put the first run on the board in the first inning, but Central Basin matched it in the bottom of the first with a two-out RBI single from Brad Hitzroth.

Moses Lake's Ryan Jones reached base after being hit by a pitch and moved to third on Redford's double down the left field line. Both runners would score on balk calls on Central Basin's pitcher.

Columbia Basin fought back, adding three runs in the bottom of the same inning to take a 4-3 lead.

"I think when you start changing leads like that, the momentum turns so quickly and losing a lead is worse than gaining a lead," McNamara said.

Ephrata added two runs in the fifth and Moses Lake tied the game in the sixth. Both teams scored runs in the eighth and Corbin Goodman won it for Moses Lake in the ninth with the suicide squeeze bunt.

"I thought we were in every game," McNamara said. "The first game we made some silly mistakes and in the second game, we couldn't get any hits. I felt these kids did a good job."