KELSO — The Columbia River baseball team overcame a a four-run deficit in the fifth inning and beat Prairie 5-4 in the ninth on Sam Walker’s bases-loaded sacrifice fly, securing a place in the bi-district tournament.
Columbia River will face Kelso at 4 p.m. Wednesday in the second round of the district playoffs.
Rian Bassett pitched a complete game for the victory, striking out 10 batters while walking four and allowing two earned runs. Bryson Oury and Trey Walker each had two of Columbia River’s nine hits.
Walker was 0 for 3 but drove in two runs, including the game-winner as the Chieftains (15-6) won for the 11th time in their last 12 games. They play today at Kelso, with the winner to face Mountain View on Thursday for the district crown.
Prairie’s Tyler Armstrong also pitched a complete game, taking the loss as the Falcons’ season concluded. He struck out five, walked nine and allowed three earned runs.
Columbia River had a potential go-ahead run gunned down at the plate to end the sixth inning.
Stars of the day
• BOYS TRACK AND FIELD: Kevin Washington won the 100 and 200 meters to lead Skyview to a 108-28 win over Union to secure the 4A Greater St. Helens League dual-meet title with a 5-0 record.
• GIRLS TRACK AND FIELD: Jessica Ojukwu won the 100, 200 and 400 and Alexis Fuller won the 800, 1,600 and 3,200 but it wasn’t enough to prevent a rare tie between Union and Skyview (75-75). Still, the Titans took the 4A GSHL title with a 4-0-1 record. Vanessa Muckerheide helped Union earn the tie by climbing to second place on her final javelin attempt.
• BOYS SOCCER: Erik Powell had three goals and an assist and Brennan McDaid-O’Neill added two goals as Seton Catholic beat White Salmon 5-1 to catch the Bruins for first place in the 1 Trico League. The Seton finishes league with a win over La Center on Thursday, the Cougars will clinch the No. 1 seed to district.
• BOYS SOCCER: Jared Berg scored two goals to lift Mountain View to a 5-2 win over Hudson’s Bay. Combined with Fort Vancouver’s 2-1 win over Columbia River, the Thunder and Chieftains are tied atop the 3A GSHL standings with 6-1-2 marks.
• BOYS SOCCER: Tanner Konkright scored three goals as Ridgefield beat Mark Morris 4-2. Because Hockinson beat R.A. Long 3-0, the Spudders and Hawks are co-champions in the 2A GSHL and will play a seeding match for the district’s No. 1 seed at 7 p.m. Thursday in Washougal.
• BASEBALL: Josh Soske of La Center had three hits, including a double and triple, and knocked in four runs to help the Wildcats beat Castle Rocket in the second game of a doubleheader. La Center needed a sweep to earn the Trico title, but the Rockets won a dramatic nine-inning first game, 3-2.
• BOYS TRACK AND FIELD: Jason Bracken of Prairie won four field events as the Falcons won a dual meet with Mountain View. Bracken was first in the shot put (46-51/2), discus (139-61/2), javelin (144-2) and high jump (6-2).
