MATTAWA - It took four years and 10 games, but the Wahluke High School baseball team has once again scored victory.

After suffering a brutal drubbing against the Warden junior varsity for their ninth defeat, the reborn baseball Warriors turned the tables on the Cougars, 9-4, in the second game.

The Warriors were beaming, somewhat ecstatic when they gathered after the final Warden out. Coaches, parents and friends took pictures for posterity. It was a moment they didn't want to forget.

After the way things have gone for Wahluke (really a junior varsity) since restarting a program that was defunct for three years, even coach Dan Oppelt was surprised - pleasantly and gleefully.

"A funny thing happened in the second game; We won," he reported.

He was not mocking or making fun of his boys. He was expressing relief from pent up frustration. Watching his boys stumble and fumble in the first game "was painful," he said.

The first game score was 11-0 going to the Warden fifth inning. And then things became worse. In that one inning the Warriors came up short on half dozen throws and failed to catch half a dozen more.

Warrior heads were down. Warrior shoulders were slumping. Everyone stopped looking at the scoreboard.

Then, like a switch turned on, the Warriors flipped in the second game. It seemed as if all the information they and their coach had shared registered. Throws were made, and throws were caught, and bats cracked with authority.

"We capitalized on walks issued by the Warden pitchers with timely hitting," Oppelt said.

The breakthrough came in the second inning. David Ponce laced a 2-out, 2 run single, stole second and then scored after Christopher Valencia singled to center.

"After we took the lead, you could see the attitude change and the body language improve greatly," Oppelt said. "We started communicating with each other and made plays that we didn't make in the first game."

Most pleasing to Oppelt was a total team effort. He said every player contributed something.

"We are hoping this allows us to turn the corner and begin to feel some confidence in ourselves and our abilities," he said.

Oppelt gave a lot of credit to sophomore Felix Jimenez. The burly first-game catcher took the mound in the second game and led his mates with a complete game effort.