HARTLINE — Almira/Coulee-Hartline’s summer baseball season came to close in the American Legion Washington AA State Tournament last week, falling 4-2 to the Yakima Valley Peppers in the semifinals of the Division B bracket. 

This was ACH’s first summer playing AA ball, having reached the single-A championship game last summer. 

“It usually takes one mistake — whether a walk or an error — something that propels the other team,” head coach Mike Correia said. “We benefited from that during the week, and then we gave it away in that game. We made a couple of mistakes, and all of a sudden, they’ve got a couple runs.” 

ACH opened the game with an early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning, where baserunner Brady Roberts scored on a steal of home before right fielder Max Grindy drove in a run in the next at-bat. The Warriors held the lead until the top of the fourth inning, where Yakima Valley tied the game at two before taking a 4-2 lead in the next inning.  

The Warriors had runners in scoring position in both the sixth and seventh innings but couldn’t get the baserunners home and fell out of the state tournament. 

“We just could not come up with a timely hit,” Correia said. “We had runners, we had guys in position, and we just could not get it done. Credit to (Yakima Valley), they rolled some double plays on us.” 

After reaching the 1B state championship back in May, many players on the high school’s spring baseball roster turned out to play for the American Legion team over the summer. The primary focus over the past two months was facing better competition. 

“We face one or two good pitchers during the regular season in the spring, but when it hits playoffs, we face a whole other level (of pitching) that we don’t usually see,” Correia said. “Our guys just need to see that.” 

Jumping up from single-A to AA assisted with that focus. 

“It was really good this summer to experience that,” catcher Grayson Beal said. “I’m glad we moved up to AA, because I think we only had three games where we mercied our opponent. Having to go full seven (innings), make plays the entire time, that was really good for us.” 

The summer began with 16 consecutive wins for the Warriors, sweeping through the Area 3 National division before making a run at the district tournament to make it to state. ACH finished the summer with a 23-3 overall record. 

“One of the things we try to push all the time is it doesn’t matter if it’s practice, which team we’re playing, who we think we are and who we think we aren’t, we’ve got to come with the same mental preparation, the same mental intensity no matter who it is,” Correia said.  

“We were kind of calm this summer,” Beal said. “We didn’t let the pressure get to us — I can’t remember a single game where it felt like we had a lot of pressure, and we folded.” 

The state tournament opened with back-to-back wins over Lynden and Yakima Valley before ACH fell 6-3 to Spokane Valley. In the double-elimination tournament, the Warriors advanced on with an 11-1 win over Lynden in the loser’s bracket July 31. 

“Playing a team a second, third or fourth time, it seems like the more you play a team, and if you beat them every time, it just gets harder to keep beating them,” Correia said. “I didn’t know what to expect from Lynden, but we jumped on it and took care of that game.” 

By playing tougher competition in the summer, Correia said one of the team’s biggest improvements was understanding the flow of the game. 

“We have a certain way that we want to approach the game, and win or lose, that’s how we’re going to play,” Correia said. “Watching guys buy into that even more was rewarding.” 

Shortstop Caden Correia led the Warriors at the plate in hits this summer with 38, with Beal in second with 29 total hits. Rounding out the top three was second baseman Hunter Flaa with 27 hits. 

First baseman Josh Booker’s 27 RBI were the most for the Warriors, followed by catcher Kaysen Pryor with 25 and third baseman Carter Pitts and Caden, who both had 24. 

Beal said his biggest takeaway from the season was how successful a team can be when they execute the game plan and play together. 

“I thought that it proved talent doesn’t win baseball games — executing and making the plays that need to be made win baseball games,” Beal said. “We’re not even close to the most talented team at that AA tournament, but we split with the team that ended up winning it and were right there the second time we played them. I think it gives us a lot of confidence knowing that we can go into any matchup with a good shot.” 

    Almira/Coulee-Hartline catcher Grayson Beal waits for a pitch during a game against Spokane Valley on July 29. Beal finished second on the team with 29 hits in 26 games this summer.
  

    Almira/Coulee-Hartline pitcher Carter Pitts releases a pitch during a game against Spokane Valley at the AA state tournament last week. Pitts was one of eight Warrior pitchers that started games this summer.