Kennewick 12s finish 1st in Cal Ripken World Series consolation bracket

The Kennewick National 12-year-olds went 4-0 in the Iron Man consolation bracket to finish play on Saturday at the Cal Ripken World Series in Branson, Mo.

The Tri-City squad beat Semmes, Ala., 9-4, in the Iron Man bracket championship game on Saturday.

No other details were immediately available.

That finished off a four-game winning streak in the bracket, which included beating Crown Point, Ind., in a 12-11 thriller on Thursday night, then shutting down Winterville, N.C., 8-1 on Friday.

KN went 1-3 in pool-play competition earlier in the week, which forced the team into the Iron Man bracket.

But the local squad finished with a 5-3 record this week.

In Thursday’s 12-11 win over Crown Point, Kennewick scored seven runs in the top of the third inning for a 9-3 lead. But Crown Point — trailing 9-5 in the bottom of the sixth — scored four runs on two Kennewick errors and a wild pitch to tie the game at 9-9 and forcing extra innings.

Lucas Goates’ two-run single in the top of the seventh, followed by an RBI double by Mitchell Murphy, gave Kennewick a 12-9 lead.

The Indiana team once again rallied with two walks and two Kennewick errors to score two runs. But reliever Kanon Short stopped the rally, as he induced a batter to hit into a groundout to shortstop Colt Miller to end the game with the tying run at third and the winning run at second.

In the 8-1 win over Winterville, Kennewick scored five runs in the third inning. Easton Tompkins had an RBI double and an RBI single for Kennewick.

Short pitched a complete game for Kennewick, scattering four hits and striking out two batters.

Hockey

Former Tri-City American Carey Price was inducted into the B/C Hockey Hall of Fame last month in Penticton.

The July 19 event honored him and his former Montreal Canadiens teammate, Shea Weber.

Price was one of the National Hockey League’s top goalies for a number of years, but especially during the 2014-15 season when he was named the league’s MVP, as well as top goaltender.

Price spent 15 seasons with the Canadiens. He also won a gold medal for Canada in the 2014 Winter Olympics.

He spent four seasons with the Americans — from 2003 to 2007, playing in 193 games.

Signings

• Easton Espinoza has signed a letter of intent to play baseball next season for Eastern Oregon University. Espinoza is a graduate of Chiawana High School and he played for Wenatchee Valley College these past two seasons.
• Moises Lopez Carillo, a Hermiston High grad, has agreed to play men’s soccer this fall for the Oregon Institute of Technology.
• Gabriel Delgado, who played at Columbia Basin College last fall, has agreed to play men’s soccer this fall at The Evergreen State College.
• Hermiston grad Chase Elliott has spent the past two seasons playing for the Mt. Hood Community College baseball team. He has signed a letter of intent to play for Corban University next season.
• Here’s the latest list of athletes who have signed letters of intent to play for Great Northwest Athletic Conference schools:

Melise Brown (Southridge) to Central Washington University softball; Halle Dilger (Kamiakin) to CWU softball; Andre Garza (Othello) to CWU baseball; Jenna Holm (Richland) to Northwest Nazarene volleyball; and Adriana Rodriguez (Chiawana) to CWU softball.

• Walla Walla Valley Academy graduate Danika Larson will be running cross country this fall for Walla Walla University, after she signed a letter of intent.
• Chiawana grad Sawyer Stenson was one of the best players this past spring in the Northwest Athletic Conference. Stenson, a catcher, starred for Lower Columbia Community College in Longview. Now she’ll be playing for NAIA power Oregon Institute of Technology after she signed a letter of intent.

Four Columbia Basin College baseball players are moving on to the four-year school level after they signed letters of intent: Lefty pitcher Jake Robinson, who is headed to Washington State University; Jack Fenton will move on the Akron University, while Trevor Dale signed with Colorado-Colorado Springs; and Brayden Mayencourt is headed to Central Baptist.

Soccer

Columbia Basin College has hired Alessandro Llamas Ibarra as its newest head women’s soccer coach for the coming season.

Llamas Ibarra takes over for long-time Hawks head coach Omar Anderson, who took a job in April as associated head coach for the Grambling State University women’s soccer team. Grambling’s lead coach is Kennewick High grad Justin Wagar.

Anderson led CBC to the NWAC championship last season. In eight seasons with the Hawks, Anderson had a .610 winning percentage with an 85-31-24 record.

Llamas Ibarra, a Kennewick High graduate, is a former CBC athlete, playing for the Hawks’ men’s soccer team. In April of this year, he took a Completion Coach advisor position on the Pasco campus.

Tennis

Othello seniors Ashton Pruneda and Riley Rodriguez were named the Boys Tennis Doubles Players of the Year recently by the 2A Central Washington Athletic Conference coaches.

The two were also named to the first-team squad.

East Valley-Yakima junior Cameron Erb was named Singles Player of the Year, while East Valley’s Steve Elder was the CWAC Boys Tennis Coach of the Year.