Bears cage Tigers in a pair of 10-run-rule games

BREWSTER – The Brewster Bears varsity baseball team kept its solid grip on first place in District with a 10-0 win over the 1A Meridian Trojans last Thursday, April 7, to push its league record to 3-0 and 8-0 overall.

On Saturday, April 2, the Bears took both ends of a doubleheader against visiting Tonasket, 10-0, and 13-1, to illustrate why they are at the top of the District 6 RPI rankings. Head coach Todd Phillips liked what he saw in the first game against Tonasket. He said the players “looked sharp” and he was “extremely pleased with our approaches at the plate.”

Phillips singled out AJ Woodward’s pitching against the Tigers noting that he only allowed one base runner with 10 strike outs.

“(Woodward) was just dominate from the first pitch to the last,” said Phillips. “First pitch strikes on all but two batters.”

Phillips described the action of the five-inning game:

First inning: Tyson Schertenleib singled with one out, went to third on a failed pickoff attempt and scored on Reese Vassar’s sacrifice fly. 

Second inning: Woodward led off with a home run. Eric Ramirez walked, stole second and third and scored on a wild pitch.

Third inning: Schertenleib and Vassar hit back-to-back home runs to start the inning off. Nico Maldonado reached base on an error and traveled around the bases via stolen bases and passed balls. He had five stolen bases between the two games. 

Fourth inning: Brady Wulf singled to start the inning and advanced on a throwing error, went to third on a passed ball and scored on Vassar’s groundout. 

Fifth inning: Reached the ten-run rule. Woodward led off with a walk, stole second, and went to third on a wild pitch. Grant Baker doubled to plate Woodward, then scored on a Blake Burgett single. Bases were loaded via a hit-by-pitch and an infield error. Schertenleib grounded out to score Burgett and end the game. 

Game 1

                        1          2          3          4          5          R          H          E 

Tonasket          0          0          0          0          0          0          1          5 

Brewster          1          2          3          1          3          10        8          0 

W-AJ Woodward (3-0) 

L- Joe Thornton 

S-None 

2B-Brewster: Grant Baker (2); Tonasket: None 

3B-None 

HR-Brewster: Tyson Schertenleib (2), Vassar, Woodward; Tonasket: None 

The coach saw a few defensive lapses in the second game to go along with the defensive outs the Bears made, “something that we have to do in order to be competitive in the playoffs.” he said.

Phillips reported the second five-inning contest as follows:

First inning: Wulf led off with a single, moved to third on consecutive wild pitches and scored on a Schertenleib ground out. Vassar singled, Maldonado was hit by a pitch, Woodward walked and they progressively stole bases or advanced on wild pitches until all three scored. 

Third inning: Tonasket scored their lone run of the day when Hamlin singled, stole second, advanced on an error to score on a sacrifice fly after Tonasket loaded the bases. We answered in our half of the inning scoring three runs off walks and steals, a Grant Baker sac fly and a few passed balls.

Fourth inning: Wulf singled to lead off, stole second and advanced to third on a passed ball. Vassar walked and we pulled off a double-steal to score Wulf. Vassar did a great job of staying in the run-down to plate the run. Maldonado tripled and then scored on a wild pitch.

Fifth inning: We once again pushed to the ten-run limit when Baker was walked, stole second, and scored on a Burgett single. Braiden Westerdahl followed suit by singling and all three scored when Wulf homered for the first time in his high school career. 

Phillips had high praise for Tyson Schertenleib’s 19-game hit streak that ended against the Tigers.

“Although it isn’t the longest streak that we have had, it may be the most impressive,” said Phillips. “It started on the third game last season and continued up through this series. The caliber of competition against which the streak took place and the fact that he hit at a .603 clip with 14 extra base hits in 63 at bats over the course of the streak was absolutely phenomenal.”

Game 2

                        1          2          3          4          5          R          H          E 

Tonasket          0          0          1          0          0          1          2          3 

Brewster          4          0          3          2          4          13        7          3 

W-Wulf (1-0) 

L- Samuel Spangler 

S-None 

2B-None 

3B-Brewster: Maldonado; Tonasket: None 

HR-Brewster: Wulf; Tonasket: None 

Lady Bears triumph

The girls’ varsity softball team nearly matched the Bears’ games with 14-1, and 13-3 wins over the Tonasket girls. The wins put the Lady Bears at 2-2 in league for third place.