2A Baseball: Bearcats Handle Shelton, Advance to Districts

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Senior Tanner Vaughn was dominant on the mound and drove in two runs at the plate as the W.F. West Bearcats used three first-inning runs to top the Shelton Highclimbers, 4-1, in 2A districts on Tuesday in Centralia.

Vaughn tossed all seven innings, striking out 12 Highclimbers against just a pair of walks with a single hit allowed. His two RBI came without a hit.

“Tanner, making his final high-school start, was really impressive,” W.F. West coach Bryan Bullock said. “It’s exactly what we’ve gotten out of him the last three years.”

Max Taylor had two hits, including a double, and scored a run, while Cade Haller and Drew Reynolds both doubled, drove in and scored a run as well.

Gavin Fugate and Brock Bunker each notched a pair of knocks for the Bearcats.

“Offensively, we played really well,” Bullock said. “Better than we have been. We just didn’t have any clutch hits. But I liked our approach at the plate.”

Bunker made an excellent running throw to first base on a slow dribbler to get the final out of the third inning with a Shelton runner on third base to help Vaughn get out of a small jam.

“That was a big momentum shift,” Bullock said.



W.F. West (12-1) faces the Greater St. Helens League’s No. 2 seed, Columbia River, in the district semifinals on Friday in Ridgefield.

Aberdeen Eliminates Centralia

The Centralia Tigers fell in an early hole and never crawled out, falling 7-0 to the Aberdeen Bobcats in the 2A District tournament in Centralia on Tuesday. The Tigers’ season is now over.

Aberdeen chased Centralia starter Landen Jenkins early, getting to the bullpen after just a third of an inning on three runs (two earned) on four hits.

Noah Aliff was pretty good in relief, tossing the final 6.2 innings, allowing four runs (three earned) on seven hits with eight strikeouts against two walks.

Centralia struggled at the plate, though, with just three hits. Bayden Teitzel, Kyuss Mano and Moshie Eport had the Tigers hits.

Centralia finishes the season with a record of 8-5. Nine Tigers played their final game for Centralia: Teitzel, Aliff, Mano, Cameron Erickson, Pariz Chavez, Benito Valencia, Sawyer Kassel, Joseph Unger and Zack Rone.