Wahluke Warriors baseball season in review
CALEB PEREZ | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 1 year, 3 months AGO
The 2025 Wahluke Warriors baseball team gathers for a team photo. This season coach Chet Bangs said that a lot of experienced starters had to miss a few games due to injuries and that the freshmen on the team stepped up to fill those roles.
COURTESY PHOTO/WAHLUKE HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETICS
The Wahluke Warriors were set to hustle at the beginning of the season as shown by this player sliding into second during a practice.
Keaton Zirker pitching for the Warriors in a game earlier in the season. The junior will return to the team next year with more experience.
Warriors’ senior Andy Garcia batting in one of the games this season. Garcia is one of seven seniors that graduated from Wahluke High School this year.
Wahluke Warriors’ third baseman tagging his opponent out in one of their games during the season.
Jose Valdovinos making a hit for the Warriors earlier this season. One of the teams goals this season that they accomplished was improving their hitting and pitching said coach Chet Bangs.
MATTAWA – The Wahluke Warriors baseball team finished their 2025 season with an overall record of 4-15.
“I was really proud of the guys,” said Warriors head coach Chet Bangs. “They filled different roles, stepped up, especially the freshmen, and the senior leadership was really strong.”
The Warriors started off their season with high expectations due to their performance last season, when they finished with a 6-15-1 overall record. They put an emphasis on improving their hitting and pitch command and control.
Bangs said that the team started off the season without any preseason games to prepare themselves due to scheduling. Despite this, the Warriors were able to start off strong in their first two games in a doubleheader against College Place with a 10-5 victory in game one.
“Going down and facing College Place, who has been strong in the past and winning our very first game against them gave everybody a little bit of hope,” said the coach.
Their second game against College Place came down to an eighth inning where they came up just short and fell 14-15.
“Almost every single game that we played ... we were in it every single time,” said Bangs.
As the season progressed, the team began running into some obstacles in their efforts to make the district tournament. Along with having to combine squads with Cashmere and Zillah, the team faced a slew of missing players from either having other commitments or injury.
“For the most part I feel like the players that had the experience stepped up and the freshmen definitely improved,” said Bangs. “It was a struggle trying to get consistency, we didn’t have any game where we had all of our normal starters.”
Bangs said that one player who had stepped up big for the team this year was junior pitcher Makai Harlow. Harlow had only allowed six walks all season long while pitching and the number two pitcher Keaton Zirker, who was also a junior, had also improved from his performance last year.
The Warriors are graduating seven seniors this year, but are going to have a strong returning squad for next year with six juniors moving up to become seniors. They also had three freshman players, Alejandro Cruz, Rylan Zirker and Jaden Perez, step up for missing veteran players throughout the season and got to play in every game this season.
“I think they have a strong core with juniors moving up and being able to work with those freshmen really should help them for next year,” said Bangs.
Overall, the Warriors have improved from their performance last season, as they went from a batting average of .247 in 2024 to .327 this season. Bangs said that next season the team will be aiming for similar strides as they make another push toward making the district tournament.
“We did the best that we could with the obstacles we had, so I was really proud of all our players for staying strong and tough,” said Bangs.
The Wahluke Warriors were set to hustle at the beginning of the season as shown by this player sliding into second during a practice.
Keaton Zirker pitching for the Warriors in a game earlier in the season. The junior will return to the team next year with more experience.
Warriors’ senior Andy Garcia batting in one of the games this season. Garcia is one of seven seniors that graduated from Wahluke High School this year.
Wahluke Warriors’ third baseman tagging his opponent out in one of their games during the season.
Jose Valdovinos making a hit for the Warriors earlier this season. One of the teams goals this season that they accomplished was improving their hitting and pitching said coach Chet Bangs.ARTICLES BY CALEB PEREZ
Knights win in overtime shootout against Naches
ROYAL CITY — The Royal Knights girls soccer team (6-0-1) had a tight game against Naches Valley (5-1-1) Tuesday evening that came down to a penalty kick shootout that the Knights won 6-5. Though the game was ruled as a tie in official standings, winning the PKs brought excitement for the team. "We played hard and we never gave up," said Knights junior Sarah Bergeson who shot the final PK. "We're proud of us." The game was a defensive battle from the beginning with Naches making an early shot on goal that was stopped by Knights freshman goalkeeper Areli Romero. Following this, Royal gained possession of the ball and proceeded to apply pressure on the opposing goal for a majority of the half.
Knights fall in five-set match against Naches Valley
ROYAL CITY — The Royal Knights volleyball team (0-6) had a tough battle at home against Naches Valley Tuesday night as they fell 3-2 in the five-set game. "The first two sets were definitely rough," said Knights senior Graycie Kast. "We didn't have a lot of energy starting off, but that third set, we got our energy back and just started having fun and the game just came to us." The Knights fell behind early in the first set as they struggled to score, giving Naches Valley an advantage. Royal began to find momentum as the set went on to cut into the deficit, but Naches Valley remained dominant on the court to win 25-12.
Tigers girls XC takes first at Apple Ridge
EPHRATA— The Ephrata Tigers had a successful day at the Apple Ridge Run Invite Saturday as the boys took third overall, while the girls took first out of 20 schools that competed. Tigers Head Coach Lyndsy Roberts said he was very proud of the way his athletes performed in the early season meet. "Our girls showed up and competed," said Roberts. "They didn't back down from the competition and proved they are going to be a team to watch this year. Winning this meet was a big step for the program." The Apple Ridge meet had a unique scoring format with three different race courses with two athletes scoring on each course, Roberts said. This gives a total of six scoring athletes rather than the traditional five.