MOSES LAKE — The Moses Lake All-Stars 9U (6-4) earned champion status after going 4-0 in the Dune City Dust-Up over the weekend. Despite a shaky start in game one, the All-Stars grinded out four strong wins, Head Coach Isaac Jahns said.  

“I'd say we started out feeling like we were struggling a little bit on Saturday. Our pitching wasn't on, but the kids really grinded through it,” he said. “They managed to get the W's on Saturday, despite not being at their best, which showed a lot of determination, and I was really proud of that.” 

Moses Lake started the tournament on Saturday with a narrow 10-9 win over the Kennewick American 9U Red. From there, they closed Saturday with a competitive 12-9 win over the Kennewick National 9U Grey All Stars before opening Sunday in a rematch, also winning 8-3. Lastly, they grinded out a 9-6 win over the Prairie Cardinals 9U in the championship game. Jahns was proud of his team’s character while navigating various forms of adversity throughout the tournament.  

“They've been working very hard,” Jahns said. “As a true All-Star team, we're playing against these tournament travel teams and those teams have been together for so much longer, but these kids all came together three weeks ago after playing on different teams in the league, and to be able to mesh and really play together and trust each other is impressive.” 

Kennewick American 9U Red 

After falling behind by three in the top of the first inning, Moses Lake responded with four runs of their own to take a one-point lead. Kennewick battled back in the top of the second with two runs to reclaim the lead 5-4.  

Despite this, the All-Stars erupted offensively with five runs by Calvin Melbye, Mason Maciel, Haris Jahns and Corbin Buchanan to take a 9-5 lead in the bottom of the second inning. Though the lead wasn’t steep enough as Kennewick rallied back to tie the game 9-9 at the top of the third. However, Kaymdyn Raymond put the game on ice after stealing home plate to win the game 10-9.  

Kennewick National 9U Grey All Stars (Saturday) 

Later on Saturday, Moses Lake faced another Kennewick squad, a team that also gave them a challenge. 

After jumping out to a 3-2 lead in two innings, the Kennewick National team erupted for five runs in the top of the third to take a 7-3 lead. However, three runs by Buchanan, Raymond and Hunter Payne cut their deficit to a one-point game.  

Pitching and the surrounding defense for Moses Lake held Kennewick to a single run in the top of the fourth inning. From there, they built on a strong third inning with five more runs in the bottom of the fourth to reclaim the lead 11-8. Daxton Suarez and Dawson Carlile contributed to their five-run effort.  

The defense continued to limit Kennewick's offensive effort, holding them to another single run inning in the top of the fifth. A scored run by Oakley Svilar sealed the win for Moses Lake, setting up the rematch on Sunday.  

Kennewick National 9U Grey All Stars (Sunday) 

After a night's rest, the Moses Lake All-Stars took to the diamond ready to go, Jahns said.  

“I think they got all their kinks worked out, because they played two near perfect baseball games,” he said.  

First up was a rematch with the Kennewick National 9U team. They started strong with four runs by Maciel, Buchanan, Jahns and Payne in the bottom of the first inning. Svilar started on the mound for Moses Lake for four innings.  

He only allowed four hits, one earned run and struck out six batters. Strong pitching paired with the support of the defense behind him helped the All-Stars build a commanding 8-1 lead after four innings.  

“Our pitching was on, our defense was spot on, and they've been really hitting the ball well all season,” Jahns said.  

From there, it was a defensive tug of war to the finish. Moses Lake may not have scored the rest of the game, but the defense continued to dominate as well. Payne took over the pitching duties, allowing just two hits, two earned runs and struck out four batters in two innings. This helped them secure an 8-3 win to advance to the championship game.  

Prairie Cardinals 9U 

Once again, Moses Lake found themselves facing adversity early on after falling behind 5-0 to the Cardinals. Despite the deficit, the team showed they were not going away quietly and returned to the diamond with a strong desire to win, Jahns said.  

Across the third and fourth innings, they outscored the Cardinals 8-0 to take the lead 8-5. Strong pitching by Josiah Colin helped Moses Lake ride their momentum to the finish, only allowing one more run by Prairie and putting the game out of reach with another run of their own. 

In four innings, Colin allowed five hits, zero earned runs and struck out five batters, earning him MVP honors from Jahns.  

“We know we can count on him when we put him in there,” Jahns said. “His love for the game is what makes him special. He really loves to play baseball, he loves the Dodgers, he's always talking about baseball.”  

Jahns was also complimentary of the All-Stars defense rising to the occasion all weekend.  

“The boys deserve a lot of credit for that, because to see basically error-free baseball games on defense at nine years old is a little mind blowing,” the coach said. “As a coach that's super rewarding, because you go in, everybody wants to hit but we really focused on defense in practice, and so that was really fun to see.” 

While they’ll have a few scrimmages over the next couple of weeks, Jahns and the Moses Lake All-Stars 9U have their eyes set on the Cal Ripken state tournament, which starts July 9 and concludes on July 11. While he anticipates any team they face to be a tough challenge, he also feels confident his players will be just as hard to beat.  

“If they play like they did (this weekend) it's going to be hard to beat them,” Jahns said. “Most importantly, personal and life lessons. The perseverance it takes to go out and lose a few games but still have the determination and will to come back and battle to win more baseball games. You can adapt that to all things in life. I hope they can take that determination they've showed on the baseball field and apply it in school and to the rest of their lives.” 

BOX SCORES: 

Game one 

K9RD: 3-2-4: 9 

MLAS: 4-5-1: 10 

Game two 

KNWK: 2-0-5-1-1: 9 

MLAS: 1-2-3-5-1: 12 

Game three 

KNWK: 0-1-0-0-0-2: 3 

MLAS: 4-4-0-0-0-X: 8 

Game four 

MLAS: 0-0-3-5-0-1: 9 

PRCD: 1-4-0-0-1-0: 6 

    The Moses Lake All-Stars 9U’s Josiah Colin stands ready at third base Saturday.
  

    Haris Jahns III claps after his teammate tagged out a base runner during the Moses Lake All-Stars 9U tournament run on Saturday.
  

    Wells Tait (0) for the Moses Lake All-Stars 9U turns in the nick of time to tag out a runner at home plate.
  

    Daxton Suarez (10) unleashes another pitch during the Moses Lake All-Stars 9U tournament run on Saturday.