Elks Clutch Plays Power Win Over Yakima Valley
Kody Watanabe made multiple standout defensive plays to help fight off the Yakima Valley Pippins. (Andrew Green)
Yakima, WA - One-out hits and clutch double plays pushed the Bend Elks past the Yakima Valley Pippins 4-1 in the series opener.
After a sluggish scoreless start from both sides through the first four innings of play, the Elks finally cashed in on an RBI single from Tyler Peterson. Elijah Jackson would score the second run of the frame a few pitches later on a wild pitch by Ethan Salscheider (0-2).
A fielding error by third-basemen Kody Watanabe allowed the Pippins to convert on an RBI single from Beck Maguire in the sixth inning. Yet, Watanabe would get his revenge in the eighth with a sharp hit booted into right field by the close-playing Yakima first basemen, Jace Phelan, that caused Zach Toglia and Justin Tsukada to score and extend the Elks's lead to three.
Watanabe was also responsible for two game-changing double-play connections with Elijah Jackson that got the Elks out of several sticky situations.
Bend Pitching put forth another strong showing, holding the opponent to three hits or less for the second consecutive game. The headline outing came from Watanabe’s Southwestern OR CC teammate, Mahiro Tomita, who tossed four innings, allowing no earned runs and three walks while striking out two batters in his West Coast League debut.
Now on a two-game win streak, Bend (3-4) will look to claim its third straight series win against Yakima Valley (3-4) Saturday at 6:35 p.m. at Yakima County Stadium.
