MOSES LAKE — Despite a 1-2 weekend, the Central Washington Sixers 11U (17-10) are off to a strong start to their season, according to Head Coach Sonny Garza.  

“Season's going pretty good overall,” Garza said. “We won a tournament a few weeks back. We have a couple second places, and the last couple weekends we've been facing some pretty good all-star teams that have kind of been put together. It's good to start facing those types of teams again, and we're still seeing some of those same tough teams that we've played the last couple years, which is also really good.” 

The Sixers were victorious against the NSLL All Stars 11U in a 13-10 shootout. From there, they fell short 7-6 in a nailbiter against the Ferndale Eagles 11U before wrapping up the weekend with a 12-0 loss against the 509 Gunslingers 11U.  

NSLL All Stars 11U 

It was a tug of war for momentum which saw the Sixers take a 3-2 lead before breaking the game open with seven runs in the top of the third inning.  

Forrest Garza, Blaine Hines, Oliver Valdez, Davis Bragg, Konrad Hoffer, Wesley Black and Tate Palmer got home for the Sixers to increase their lead to 11-2. However, NSLL was not going quietly as they strung together six runs to one by the Six to cut their deficit to 11-8.  

CWS 11U responded in the top of the fifth by extending their lead to 13-8, making a comeback much more difficult. NSLL managed to get two players home but were halted from there as the Sixers secured the win.  

“We kind of knew they'd be a pretty good team,” Garza said. “We've been starting off kind of cold in tournaments, and then we get going, and we start playing better, from what I've noticed with this group. The kids did well overall, we kind of struggled in a few innings there, throwing strikes and giving our defense a chance, and that's kind of why it got into a shootout.” 

Ferndale Eagles 11U 

From there, the Sixers advanced to play the Eagles in their next game. The trends of this game were different, as Ferndale jumped out to a 4-1 lead after four innings. However, in the top of the fifth, the Sixers stormed back with five runs by Palmer, Valdez, Garza, Cade Templeton and Blaine Eilers to take the lead 6-4.  

However, the Eagles tied the game 6-6 in the bottom of the fifth with two runs of their own. After the Sixers were unable to score in the top of the sixth, Ferndale sealed the game with a single run in the bottom of that same inning to win 7-6.  

Despite the loss, Garza had plenty of positive takeaways, like Wesley Gonzalez’s pitching through four innings.  

“He pitched really good baseball, threw a lot of strikes and gave us an opportunity," the coach said. "He (found himself) in some difficult spots there. I believe it was the second inning, few guys on base, and he was able to get out of it."  

Though they fell short, a competitive loss like this provides a valuable learning experience for the players, Garza said. What he’s typically noticed is teams at this age level usually win or lose by larger margins.  

“I see with my high school kids, with some of the ones that play in the 15-, 16- and 17-year-old division, then they get with me and the confidence level was just that much higher with those kids that have been in this program and have been doing this since the fall and the winter, getting that extra work in. You could really see the difference,” he said.  

509 Gunslingers 11U 

What seemed to foreshadow another competitive game was broken open by the Gunslingers in the bottom of the second inning with eight runs to give themselves a 10-0 lead over the Sixers.  

The Six battled, including Garza and Bragg recording a hit while at bat. However, two more runs by the Gunslingers in the bottom of the third inning put the game out of reach 12-0 and concluded after four innings.  

While many baseball teams have their ups and downs throughout a given season, Garza is just focused on building the next generation of Basin athletes. At this level, many players are being introduced to more difficult elements of the game. For instance, the bases get farther apart, players can start to lead off, and strong pitching becomes more paramount.  

“They have to worry about making sure that they're a little quicker to the plate to give our catcher a chance when they steal, because the kids are leading off, and they could leave when you know they can lead whenever they want,” Garza said. “They obviously tend to lead when the pitches come straight up, so it's good to see them really getting the hang of that, because it's the first time they've kind of seen that.” 

According to Garza, the team will have the next couple of weekends off but will return to the diamond in July.  

BOX SCORES: 

Game one 

SXRS: 0-3-7-1-2: 13 

NSLL: 0-2-3-3-2: 10 

Game two 

SXRS: 0-0-0-1-5-0: 6 

FRND: 0-1-2-1-2-1: 7 

Game three 

SXRS: 0-0-0-0: 0 

SLNG: 2-8-2-0: 12