Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886
Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886
Shelton celebrates a 4-3 win against Mark Morris after the Highclimber's opening game in the District 4 2A baseball tournament on May 1 in Longview.
The Highclimbers are competing in the state tournament after punching their ticket with two wins in the District 4 2A baseball tournament last week.
Shelton started the tournament as the No. 3 seed out of the Evergreen Conference and faced the No. 2 seed out of the Greater St. Helen's League, the Mark Morris Monarchs. The Highclimbers traveled to Longview and came away with a 4-3 win.
"It was an amazing game because they were the higher seed on us and they were a great hitting team but we had Cannon Hutson pitching for us and he did amazing on the mound," Shelton coach Trevor Cahoon told the Journal. "Kyle Gerchak also came in for us in that game and they just shut it down from the mound and we just scrapped through it. Their three runs came from a wind-aided home run and so that gave them a 3-0 lead on us, but we just battled back the whole time on that one."
The win put the Highclimbers in the semifinals against EvCo rival Tumwater on May 11. The Thunderbirds got the win 9-1 in Ridgefield.
The loss put Shelton in a win or go home spot May 14 against the host of the district tournament, Ridgefield. The Highclimbers were up 8-1 but let the lead slip away as Ridgefield came back and put up seven runs in the sixth inning to send the game into extra innings.
"Our seniors, the whole team, they never quit," Cahoon said. "We went down twice in extra innings and we were able to battle back."
Cole Schlender came up twice with two strikes and two outs in extra innings and came through with two doubles to keep the season alive.
"Two outs, two strikes, up at the plate, season on the line, I was kind of just I don't want to be done," Schlender told the Journal. "Senior year, I still have a future but these guys, I've been playing with them for years and years and I wasn't ready to not play with them again so I was ready to keep going. I battled back. In your head, you've also got to know if you get out, it's not the end of the world. You've got to be ready to face both situations but you've got to try and thrive in those moments you think about in class when you're sitting there. You want that two strike, you want to go get that, you want to be the guy to do it so I thought, why not me?"
Schlender said as the team let the lead slip away, the guys said they're not losing this game and they didn't, winning 12-11 in nine innings.
"It's a pretty good feeling," Schlender said. "It's nice to see all these guys happy and all hanging out here and having a good time and this is why you play, see all the smiles, have all the fun and play the game."
The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association announced the tournament seeds Sunday, with Shelton earning the No. 14 seed and will travel to Yakima to face No. 3 Ellensburg on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Davis High School. The Bulldogs are 14-9 this season, upsetting Selah in the Central Washington Athletic Conference tournament championship game May 13.
If Shelton wins, they will play the winner of Enumclaw and Lynden for a chance to come back to Yakima next week and play in the final four of the state tournament at Yakima County Stadium.
"I've seen some film on a big lefty from Ellensburg High so I don't know if we're going to face him, but they do have a good left-handed pitcher that's going to come at us," Cahoon said. "We're going to spend this week taking some left-handed batting practice and working that side of the mound and hopefully we're ready for that. We should be all rested up, our pitching staff should be rested so we'll go out there and give them our best."
Cahoon said Hutson would pitch against Ellensburg and he has a pretty good idea of who will be in his lineup Saturday.
This will be an overnight road trip for the Highclimbers, staying at a hotel before potentially earning a spot in the final four.
"It'll be interesting. I'll have to actually be a parent because I like to go to bed early so I'll have to get on them about that, but other than that, I'm excited," Schlender said. "I think we're ready for it. I think we want it."
Win or lose, Cahoon said he is happy about Shelton's accomplishments this season.
"It's amazing because every time when I thought the team was down and I've kind of let them be self-motivators," Cahoon said. "I'm always after them of show me how much you want this and they've just kept answering every single time. The seniors, having a senior-driven team like we have, they really took it upon their shoulders and made sure we made state."
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