The 1A Trico League La Center Wildcats faced off against two larger schools in the Baseballism Kickoff Classic last weekend across Clark County.
The baseball tournament featured 24 schools in total. Eight teams played from Thursday, March 20, to Saturday, March 22, at the Ridgefield Outdoor Recreation Complex while 16 other teams played at three Evergreen School District campuses in their own brackets.
The Wildcats, a part of the Alan Embree Bracket at Mountain View High School, competed against 3A Greater St. Helens League home squad, the Mountain View Thunder, the Shelton HighClimbers of the 2A Evergreen Conference and the Graham-Kapowsin Eagles of the 4A South Puget Sound League.
La Center reached double digits with a 12-6 win over the HighClimbers on Friday, March 21. At one point, though, La Center had a 12-1 lead after four and a half innings, but once substitutions were made to get players more experience, the lead narrowed in the fifth as the HighClimbers added five runs.
“It’s fun to play a team that we don’t get to see often in Shelton,” La Center head coach Hunter Weiss said. “And they were pretty good, swing the bat and throw the ball around a little bit, you know.”
The Wildcats were led by Houston Coyle’s four RBI on two hits, and Justin Fuller had three RBI on two hits in their win against Shelton High School.
The next day, Graham-Kapowsin blanked the Wildcats with a 4-0 win on Saturday, March 22. La Center only had three hits, two walks and a hit batter against the 4A high school of Graham-Kapowsin.
“It’s awesome to be a part of this tournament. Super thankful for Jason Castro and all the people who put it together,” Weiss said. “Getting the invite and being a part of something where again you get to play teams that you don’t normally see and kind of have a little bit of a playoff atmosphere where you’re playing against competition, that’s sometimes better than what you see in your league.”
The 1A Trico League will feature two new teams as Kalama and Fort Vancouver high schools are making their Trico debuts. With 14 league games, Weiss said his roster, which features five seniors leading the program and numerous firs- year varsity players in the underclassmen group, will be able to develop and get through the learning curve by the District 4 tournament after the regular season.
“Our league’s tough,” Weiss said. “Seton’s a really quality ball club. King’s Way is a really quality ball club, and there’s some other tough opponents in Castle Rock and White Salmon. Once we move into the District 4 tournament into Tenino and Montesano, the league's going to be tough, and then, like I said, District 4 tournament’s always a dogfight.”
To start league play, this week packs a challenge and also four games. They first was played against Seton Catholic on Monday, March 24, and the second against King’s Way Christian on Tuesday, March 25, but results were unavailable as of The Reflector’s print deadline.
They finish the King’s Way Christian series on Thursday, March 27, at 4:30 p.m. at the Luke Jensen Sports Park. The Wildcats complete the busy week at R.A. Long High School in Longview at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, March 28.
