(GENO LUDWIG/Chewelah Independent)

FINISHING UP: Chewelah Little League wraps up season at Jim Marshall Inspirational Tourney…

Chewelah’s Little League Baseball season came to an end at Colville last weekend with both Cougar teams winning two games in the Jim Marshall Inspirational Tournament. The event capped a summer of improvement for the two teams and added an expectation for another exciting season next year.

Neither Chewelah team made it to the trophy round of the tournament. The 12U Cougars came within one game of making it to the battle for third place, finishing with two wins and a pair of losses.

The 10U team won two of five games.

12U COUGARS:
Spokane Angels 10, Chewelah 7
Chewelah’s 7-6 lead did not hold up as the Spokane Angels came from behind in the bottom of the final inning to defeat the Cougars 10-7 in their opening game of the tournament. Chewelah fought the Angels. It was not enough. The Spokane team finished strong with four runs on four hits to nail down the win. The game was cut short because of time restraints, so no sixth inning was played.

Chewelah scored first when Luke McGuire singled in the top of the first inning and later scored on a wild pitch. The Cougars added a second run in the third inning when Dekota Acosta was walked with the bases loaded, bringing home Lucas Stahl from third base for a 2-1 lead.

The Angels answered with a five-run third inning, highlighted by a home run over the left field fence with two runners on base, to go ahead 6-2.

The Cougars began to claw their way back into the lead in the fourth inning when Miles Krausz was walked, stole second base, and scored on a Spokane throwing error. Nolan Jeanneret’s double into center field in the following inning brought Stahl and McGuire home after both had singled. Makai Masuda’s double then scored Jeanneret and Bode Katzer to put Chewelah back into the lead at 7-6 with a half-inning left to play.

The Spokane team won the game in the bottom of the fifth inning with four runs for the 10-7 victory, loading the bases and then swatting the hits needed to bring baserunners home.

McGuire was perfect at the plate with three hits in three trips to the batter’s box. Stahl had two hits. Masuda, Jeanneret and Acosta each had one.

Chewelah 7, Orofino 4
Ah, sweet revenge! It was Orofino that came from behind to defeat the Cougars in the championship game of the Deer Park Tournament the previous week. The Rattlers rallied in the final inning in an attempt to do it again last Saturday morning, but the Cougars sawed it off short to savor a 7-4 win.

Back to back doubles from Bode Katzer and Dekota Acosta highlighted a Chewelah barrage in the third inning that brought home six Cougar runs. Lucas Stahl triggered the onslaught with a triple into centerfield. A single by Luke McGuire and Nolan Jeanneret being hit by a pitch loaded the bases with one out. Stahl scored on a wild pitch, and then Katzer and Acosta cleared the bases with a pair of doubles. Acosta then scored on a pitch that got past the Orofino catcher to give Chewelah a 6-0 lead.

The Cougars tacked on one more run in the top of the fourth inning when McGuire hit a line drive single up the middle that scored Kingston Duffey. The 7-1 lead stayed intact until Orofino’s final at-bat.

Orofino scored three runs and had the bases loaded, but Chewelah got two fly ball outs from Miles Krausz and another on a foul ball catch by McGuire to extinguish the threat, ending the game.
Acosta and McGuire both had two hits for the Cougars. Makai Masuda, Katzer, and Stahl each had a hit. Jeanneret notched the pitching win with help out of the bullpen from McGuire and Katzer.

Chewelah 9, Tri-County 8
Makai Masuda’s single up the middle scored Bode Katzer from third base with the winning run as the Cougars slid past Tri-County 9-8 on Saturday evening. Chewelah had an 8-1 lead after three innings, but Tri-County kept chipping away at it until the score was tied at eight runs apiece going into the final Cougar at-bat.

Singles by Nolan Jeanneret and Jace Lavoto got Chewelah off to a good start to begin the bottom of the fifth inning. However, neither of them made it home. Jeanneret got caught in a run-down attempting to steal second base and Lovato was thrown out on his way to the plate. That left the Cougars with two outs and a pair of baserunners. Katzer had been hit by a pitch and was singled to second base by Dekota Acosta. Masuda’s one-bagger then brought him home with the winning run.

Singles from Luke McGuire, Lavoto and Katzer produced two Chewelah runs in the first inning. The team then hit for the cycle in the second frame with Miles Krausz hitting a single, Josiah Whittekind swatting a double, McGuire hammering a triple and Katzer launching the ball over the left-field fence for a three-run homer. The four hits brought home six runs and gave the Cougars an 8-1 lead.

Chewelah did not score another run until its final trip to the plate. By that time, Tri-County had evened the score at 8-8, setting the stage for Masuda’s walk-off single.
Krausz, Katzer, McGuire and Lavoto led the Cougars at the plate with two hits apiece. Nolan Jeanneret, Dekota Acosta, Kingston Duffy, and Whittekind also had hits.

Spokane Angels 8, Chewelah 7
The Cougars and Angels met for the second time in the tournament on Sunday afternoon with similar results. The Cougars had come from behind in the final inning to defeat the Angels in Thursday night’s game. They did it again on Sunday, scoring the winning run in the bottom of the final inning to claim an 8-7 win.

Chewelah outhit the Angels by a 13-9 margin, but they could not come up with the timely ones they needed to score runners that were left stranded on base. The Cougars took an early 2-0 lead in the first inning, went ahead 4-2 in the fourth inning, and had a 7-4 lead going into the bottom of the fifth.

However, each time the Angels responded to tie the score.

Two singles and a double produced two Chewelah runs in the opening inning. Luke McGuire hit a leadoff single and Bode Katzer followed with a double into the rightfield gap. Makai Masuda singled through the left side to score McGuire, and Katzer came home on a passed ball for a 2-0 Chewelah lead.

Four consecutive singles added another two runs to the Cougar side of the scoreboard in the fourth inning. Jace Lavoto, Ryen McMillin, Lucas Stahl and McGuire got the hits, but only two of them came home as Chewelah left the bases loaded. The Angels tied the score at 4-4 in the bottom of that inning.

Miles Krausz’s line drive triple into the rightfield corner highlighted a three-run fifth inning for the Cougars. The three-bagger brought home Dekota Acosta, who had hit a leadoff single. Krausz scored on an error, and McMillin came home on a single down the leftfield line by Stahl. Chewelah held a 7-4 lead going into the bottom of the fifth inning, but the Angles knotted the score for the third time in the game with three runs in the bottom of the inning.

Chewelah did not score in its last at-bat. Acosta got a free trip to first base on a walk, but he was marooned there. That opened the door for the Spokane team to score the winning run in the bottom of the inning.

McGuire, Masuda, Katzer and Acosta each finished the game with two hits. Chewelah’s other hits came off the bats of Krausz, Stahl, Lavoto, McMillin and Kingston Duffy.

10U COUGARS:
Chewelah 18, Tri-County 1
The young Cougars hammered a season-high 14 hits on Saturday when they steamrolled Tri-County 18-1 in a short, three-inning game. Colton Barrow led the marathon at the plate with three hits and a trio of runs batted in. Swatting two hits were Noah Ross, Patrick McGuire, Grady Skok, Kannon Sheppard and Kyler Sobosky. Blake Schlining’s two-run homer over the right field fence was the hitting highlight of the game.

Schlining and Skok shared time on the mound, combining for six strikeouts.

Chewelah 10, Tri-County 2
Chewelah and Tri-County faced-off again on Sunday with the Cougars bagging their second win of the tournament in a 10-2 victory. Grady Skok led the Cougars at the plate with three hits, two runs batted in and a duo of runs scored. He also threw three complete innings, striking out seven of the batters he faced.

Brody King, Patrick McGuire, Kannon Sheppard, Kyler Sobosky, Blake Schlining, and Colton Barrow each contributed a single to the Chewelah win.