The Camas-Washougal Babe Ruth 13-15-year-old baseball team has a mantra — One inning at a time.
Its players believe if you win each inning, good things will eventually come.
Camas-Washougal won nearly all of its innings at the Pacific Northwest Regional Tournament last week in Kelso.
Now, the regional champions are headed to the Babe Ruth World Series in Lawrenceburg, Tenn. Camas-Washougal plays its first game in round-robin pool play on Aug. 11.
“When the kids are 40 or 50 years old, they can say they went,” Camas-Washougal coach Andy Otto said. “Ultimately, we’d like to win the whole thing. But mostly, it’s about the memories.”
Some players will head to Tennessee for a brand new experience.
Others will go there for redemption. Seven players on the team went to the 13-under Babe Ruth World Series two years ago in Jamestown, N.Y.
That team, which was the first from Camas-Washougal Babe Ruth to reach a world series, went 1-3 and did not advance beyond pool play.
Gideon Malychewski was one of those players on that 2015 world series team. This year, he hit .524 in six regional tournament games and allowed no earned runs in three games as the starting pitcher.
“Gideon has been really driven and focused on getting back to the world series,” Otto said. “He loved the experience two years ago.”
Logan Kearsey is another player who reached the world series in 2015. At the regional tournament, he batted .526 with a team-high six RBI.
Camas-Washougal outscored its regional opponents 48-13. Its only loss came in pool play to Calgary, which was avenged with a 12-2 victory in the regional championship game on Saturday.
Keeping with its philosophy, Camas-Washougal won or tied 36 innings at regionals. They were outscored in just five innings.
One pitch at a time. One inning at a time.
And now, one unforgettable experience.
