TENINO — In the grand scheme of things, Tenino’s win on Saturday will mean little.

The Beavers’ victory against Overlake-Bear Creek is a solid win that may have an impact on state tournament seedings if either team makes it that far, but it is still just a late March non-league matchup.

But when the Beavers think back to last May, when the Growls beat them in the state semifinals and went on to win the state title?

“I’m supposed to say this is just another game,” Tenino coach Ryan Schlesser said. “It’s not. That meant a little bit for us.”

Tenino got the bats going early at home on Saturday, and the Beavers were able to hold on for an 8-6 win to avenge their loss from last spring.

It didn’t start or end very smoothly, as the Growls scored three in the first and seventh, but eight runs in the first three innings was enough for Tenino.

“Being able to come back, go down early, and fight back, and then trying to blow it again in the seventh,” Schlesser said. “Just bearing down and getting tough, that was huge for us.”

Jack Burkhardt struggled with his command early, hitting two batters and walking two more to put a run across the plate before a ball was put in play. An error on the next at-bat made it 3-0 Growls before an out was recorded.

Burkhardt was able to limit the damage by striking out the next three batters he faced, and he helped himself by plating a run on an error to tie the game in the bottom of the first.

Michael Vassar set up Burkhardt’s at-bat, hitting a two-run double to get the Beavers on the board.

Burkhardt settled in on the mound after the first, retiring nine of the final 12 batters he faced to keep the Growls at three. He finished the day with four hitless innings, allowing just one earned run while striking out seven.

“It was just about finding my release point, trusting my stuff, and trusting my defense too,” Burkhardt said. “We were good from there.”

Tenino’s offense kept rolling after the first. Austin Gonia brought home two with a double in the second, and after the first two Beavers were retired to start the third, Jude Leitch reached with a double of his own.

Kellan Johnson brought him home with an RBI single, and he later came around to score on a two-run triple from Will Feltus.

“To show we can swing it throughout the lineup and get those guys going, that was cool,” Schlesser said. “Our M.O. is that we want to put pressure on you, and we did a really good job of that today.”

Zeke Haskins rolled through his first two innings of relief, but an RBI double and a two-run home run from the Growls cut the deficit to two before an out was recorded in the top of the seventh.

Haskins, like Burkhardt earlier, was able to settle in and finish the job.

“Some of the things that we could have been knocked for the last couple of years is that we weren’t very tough,” Schlesser said. “We could score a bunch of runs, but we couldn’t battle in those tight games. I think we showed today that we’re a pretty tough team, which is fun.”

Feltus and Burkhardt both finished with two hits and combined for three runs batted in, while Gonia finished 1 for 4 with his two-run double.

“We had so much energy looking forward to this,” Burkhardt said. “We’re still so far from our ceiling. We have so much potential, and more practice will get us there.”

The Beavers now sit at 3-0, and they’re looking every part of a team that could get back to Bellingham. Schlesser is keeping the focus in the present, though, and he’s already looking forward to Tuesday, when the Beavers will host Rochester in the first of a three-game set.

“We’re gonna take it day by day,” Schlesser said. “We got a lot of seniors here, and this is kind of their last hurrah in Tenino … Let’s send them out on a good note.”