Vancouver, WA — The Camas Little League 11/12 All-Star Baseball team handily won the District 4 Championship Monday night against Fort Vancouver with a final score of 12-2. The win propels the 14-member team onto the Washington State Little League tournament, which begins Saturday, July 15.
The undefeated (4-0) Camas team “10-runned” the competition in every tournament game.
During the Championship game, Cannon Bauman pitched the entire game — 79 pitches — and didn’t allow any runs until the fourth inning.
Offensively, Zach Blair got things going in the first inning with a base hit. A double from Justin Taylor brought Zach “Z-Train” in to score the first run of the night. Taylor stole third. Holt Williams got a base hit, bringing in Taylor to score.
At the top of the second inning, Bauman struck out three Fort batters in a row.
Tyler Stewart hit a double, and Caisen Burr followed with a double RBI, bringing Camas ahead 3-0.
Fort found their bats during the third inning, and got on base once, but the Camas defense held them.
At the bottom of the third inning, Jackson Knuth hit the only home run of the night, bringing the score to 4-0, but Camas wasn’t done yet. Hits by Bauman, Stewart, Burr, Cade Gehlen, Blair, and Carson Gilligan added another 5 runs to the scoreboard. It was Camas 9-0 by the top of four.
A little breeze was blowing for Fort during the fourth inning. They got one base hit, and a couple walks. Defensively, Bauman was showing signs of fatigue, throwing a few more balls than he had previously. Fort scored two.
Fort walked a couple Camas players, and eventually bases were loaded. The game came to a quiet stop with two walks that gave Camas the 10-run advantage.
The team will take Tuesday off, and then continue practicing on Wednesday night as they prepare for State.
“We stayed even keeled and didn’t allow failure to determine what we did next,” said Coach Casey Taylor. “To prepare for State, we won’t let the moment overcome us. We’ll just play baseball.”
Jackson Knuth was really pleased what his team accomplished during the All-Star tournament.
“Well, we went out right from the get-go, and we just hit really well,” Knuth said. “We were focused. Fort had a great tournament. We came out and had fun.”
To learn more, visit www.camasll.com