Lind-Ritzville will play for title

YAKIMA – Cameron Stevenson had just hoped he would get another opportunity, even though second and third chances don’t come around often in tight state baseball semifinals.

So when Pateros intentionally walked the batter in front of the Lind-Ritzville left fielder for the second time, he knew he had better come through.

His fifth-inning, tie-breaking two-run double would be enough for the Broncos to earn a spot in the State B baseball championship, as they defeated Pateros 5-2 at County Stadium.

L-R (21-3) faces DeSales (21-4), the winner of 13 of the last 14 state titles, today at 10 a.m.

Stevenson had a couple of earlier opportunities, failing to advance a runner from second with no outs in the first and grounding out with the bases loaded and two out in the third after the first intentional walk.

His third at-bat, the game-changing hit, came with two outs and runners on first and second, breaking a 1-all deadlock.

“I was just like, ‘Oh man, I better make them pay this time,’ ” he said of the intentional walks to cleanup hitter Travis Dewald in front of him.

“Sixty percent of (Pateros starting pitcher Brandon LeDoux’s) pitches were curveballs, and he left one up and it felt pretty good.”

Stevenson, also the championship-game starter, crushed one to the deepest part of the field, one-hopping the center-field fence to score Dewald and Tyler Bruegemen.

“You know what, Stevenson’s a real competitor,” L-R head coach Jason Aldrich said. “He’s come a long way from last year. He’s a lot stronger at the plate, and shoot, he’s hit seven home runs this year and that was a pretty good blast right there.”

That was enough for Dewald, the Broncos starter, who earned a little redemption after getting chased early in last year’s state semifinal against DeSales.

Dewald allowed five hits in the first two innings, but got key outs to limit the Billygoats (20-5) to only a single run early on Brian Richardson’s first-inning single.

After 36 pitches in the first two innings, he threw only 34 in the next four and didn’t allow another hit until Taylor Jones led off the seventh with a single.

“I just had to mix it up,” said Dewald, who went 6 1/3 innings before Nick Ashley came on to strike out the final two batters and pick up the save.