Young Posse shut out against the Athletics
Jul. 2—PULLMAN — Taking a glass-half-full mindset after losing is difficult on any level of sports. But the Pullman Posse hope to look on the bright side of things after the Palouse Summer Series.
Pullman concluded the final day of round-robin competition Saturday, losing 12-0 to the Washington Athletics, who hail from the Puget Sound, in four innings due to 12-run mercy rule at Bailey-Brayton Field on the Washington State University campus.
"We battled, I think, pretty well for having a younger group in a tournament like this," Pullman coach Rob McIntosh said. "I'm pretty proud of the way our guys showed up and battled. Definitely got better from playing in this tournament."
Breaking the seal
The Posse went 0-4 in the tournament, allowing over 60 runs across their four losses. At the beginning of the game, though, a bit of the bright side of things shined.
Washington knocked down Pullman in order at the top half of the inning, and it looked like the Posse would respond in kind in the bottom half of the frame.
After getting out the first two Athletics batters, Pullman starter Aslan Burt hit Washington batter Dallas Sooto with a pitch. Sooto advanced to second with a steal, and a Dayne Castillo RBI-triple on the very next bat brought Sooto home for the first run of the game. Castillo would score the following at-bat with an RBI single by Hudson Cunningham.
The Posse would get out of the inning, leaving Cunningham stranded at first and trailing 2-0. But the two-run effort by Washington would be a sign of things to come for Pullman.
Trying to weather the storm
After putting up another two runs in the bottom of the second, the Athletics more-than doubled their offensive output with a seven-run inning to go up 11-0.
The Posse had a chance to respond in the top of the fifth to extend the game and avoid the shutout.
Max Bieber came in for Washington to relieve starter Wade Treloggen and that provided an opening. Already with a runner on first, Dawson Lobdell was walked to set Pullman up with runners on first and second with one out. Bieber hit Braden Barnett with a pitch to load the bases.
Washington pulled Bieber and Jacob Kanaly took the mound, sitting down the next two Pullman batters to strand the three runners. The Athletics would seal the game in the bottom half after a walk-off RBI single by Jack Thomas scored the 12th and final run.
Despite the missed opportunity, it was a bright spot for the Posse and showed the fight the team is capable of.
"(The team is) better from the first day on Thursday to Saturday," McIntosh said. "We've gotten better and guys are improving individually, and as a team. I think at the end of the day we'll take that as a win."
Learning experience
The skillset of the Seattle-area teams are well known and well documented. The Athletics team that the Posse faced are one of the program's two 18U teams. The Pullman team itself is a younger group than many of the teams it faced and all that worked against the Posse in the Summer Series, but could prove to be good preparation for the second half of the season.
"At the end of the day, we're in good position in our league," McIntosh said. "We'll take what we learned (from the Series) and got better in here and move on, and hopefully that translates to league for us. Hopefully we can make some noise going into the district tournament."
Pullman 000 0— 0 1 x
Washington 227 1—12 9 0
Aslan Burt, Cash McCann (3), Jake Melhus (4) and Braden Barnett; Wade Treloggen, Max Bieber (4), Jacob Kanaly (4) and Jack Thomas. W—Treloggen; L—Burt
Pullman hit — Dawson Lobdell.
Washington hits — Jack Thomas 3, Hudson Cunningham 2, Jackson Bell (HR), Brigs Ellis (HR), Dayne Castillo (3B), Dallas Sooto (2B).
Kowatsch can be contacted at 208-848-2268, tkowatsch@lmtribune.com or on Twitter @Teren_Kowatsch.
