COULEE CITY – The Almira/Coulee-Hartline American Legion 18U baseball team played four games over the weekend to determine their spot in the state tournament. ACH would end up making the state tournament and placing as the number five seed overall. 

“I look at it as it’s kind of wide open,” said ACH Legion head coach Mike Correia. “If we get the pitch performance that I’m hoping we get, I don’t see any reason why we can't push towards the end and maybe make a run at winning the whole thing.” 

ACH’s first game was Friday, where they faced off against the Spokane Valley Titans. It was a slow start for ACH as they scored only three in the first four innings, and Spokane Valley scored 12. 

“Everything we could do wrong probably went wrong,” said Correia. “From errors to not getting big hits in situations when we needed it, just put a lot of pressure on our pitchers and then after they opened up kind of a big lead, we preserved some traditional pitching arms that we had.” 

Spokane Valley scored two more runs before ACH started to come back toward the bottom of the fifth with three runs. In the top of the sixth, Spokane Valley put up another four runs to ACH’s six in the bottom of the sixth, making the score 18-12.  

ACH held Spokane Valley to zero runs in the seventh inning but only scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh, giving Spokane Valley the 18-15 victory. 

“It was interesting coming off Wednesday where I thought we played really well,” said Correia. “We just were kind of in a lull Friday.” 

Saturday gave ACH another chance at making the state tournament with their game against Northeast 49ers 17U. Correia said that he hoped that continuing through the tournament setting and getting a change of atmosphere would spark the team back up to earn a victory. 

ACH would start their game against the 49ers with Max Grindy and Kaysen Pryor singling for a run, Jameson Conley hitting a sacrifice bunt for two runs, which put the team up four runs in the top of the first inning. ACH then held their opponent to zero runs in the bottom of the first and both teams went scoreless in the second and third innings. 

In the top of the fourth, ACH scored two runs with the 49ers responding with one to put the score at 6-1 at the top of the fifth. Both teams scored one run each in the seventh inning, earning ACH the 7-2 victory. 

Harvest Parrish started on the mound for ACH, which Correia said was an uncertain choice for the team as he had gotten injured during their game against Spokane Valley. Parrish threw five strikeouts and three walks over six and two-thirds innings and only allowed five hits and two runs, with one earned. Grayson Beal came on to pitch relief for the last portion of the game. 

“(Parrish’s) shoulder was a little sore, but we kind of needed him to go and he was willing and so he pitched a great game. I think he was one out from a complete game before he ran out of pitches and then Grayson Beal came in to finish it,” said the coach. “Really proud of them. We got some big hits when we needed it, and the guys really responded.” 

Winning against the NE 49ers punched their ticket into the state tournament and put them into Sunday’s games which determined seeding for the state tournament, said Correia. Their first opponent was the Palouse Patriots where the winner would go on to play for the third and fourth seed. 

Grindy got ACH on the board early, hitting a double and scoring two runs in the first inning. He added onto the score in the top of the third to put the team up 3-0. 

The ACH team went scoreless the rest of the game and Palouse would make a comeback, scoring one run in the sixth and two runs in the seventh to tie the game at 3-3. During the final inning, Palouse scored one final run to win the game and put ACH into the game to play for the fifth and sixth seed. 

“It was a pretty good game,” said Correia. “We had the lead for most of the game and there were a couple of innings where we had them on the ropes, they wiggled out of it, and we could never add on any runs to our three-run lead.” 

The final game of the weekend put ACH up against Spokane Valley once again. Corriea said that the team’s focus at this point was on how well they could pitch. 

“When you get to those tournaments, your focus almost has to turn more to throw strikes knowing that everybody’s pitching is on the verge of nonexistent as far as having guys fresh,” he said. 

Jameson Conley struck out three and walked three in the game against Spokane Valley, allowing four hits and four runs over two and two-thirds innings. Tanner Orestad pitched relief for the remainder of the game, throwing one strikeout. 

“Conley did a great job of coming in and doing what we needed him to do for that game and helping us secure that win,” said Correia. 

ACH got on the board in the first inning with Maddoc Finch getting struck by a pitch, allowing for a run to be scored. Spokane Valley would come back in the bottom of the first to take the lead at 3-1.  

Both teams would go scoreless in the second inning, and ACH put up another run in the third before both went scoreless again in the fourth. ACH then made the score 6-3 in the top of the fifth after Pryor singled for two runs, Parish singled for one and Orestad hit a fielder’s choice for one. 

At the top of the fifth inning, ACH scored an additional four runs to Spokane Valley’s one in the bottom of the fifth. ACH followed this with five runs scored in the top of the seventh, and Spokane Valley responded with just two, ending the game with an 11-6 victory for ACH. 

“You just really have to pile the runs on when you can and fortunately, we had a chance to do that and we took advantage of it,” said Correia.  

Now securing the number five seed in the state tournament, ACH is eyeing the competition down the road. The coach said ACH has about a week to rest between games to revitalize themselves for the state tournament. 

ACH Legion 18U will be playing against Yakima Valley at Shadle Park’s Ron Brooks baseball field this Saturday at 3 p.m. 

    ACH Legion 18U’s Jameson Conley makes a hit during one of the games they hosted in Ephrata earlier this season. Conley struck out three and walked three in the second game against Spokane Valley on Sunday.
  

    Maddoc Finch from ACH Legion 18U catches a foul ball for an out during a prior game this season. Finch got struck by a pitch during the team’s game against Spokane Valley on Sunday which resulted in a run scored. He was able to continue playing for the remainder of the game.
  

    ACH’s Max Grindy makes a run for first during a prior playoff game. Grindy put ACH on the board early against the Palouse Patriots by hitting a double and scoring two runs in the first inning.
  

    Kaysen Pryor of ACH heads home during one of the games hosted in Ephrata earlier this season. Pryor’s batting abilities resulted in multiple runs scored throughout the weekend.
  

    Harvest Parrish pitches on the mound for ACH during a previous playoff game. Harvest pitched in Saturday’s game against the Northeast 49ers despite some minor injuries sustained in Friday’s game and struck out five.