A quick look at last year’s C2BL baseball standings shows a clear tier line.
Toutle Lake, Adna, Napavine, a wide gap, then Toledo and Kalama. The Ducks, Pirates, and Tigers combined to win 65 games last year, all three teams made it to the state quarterfinals, and Toutle Lake and Adna went on to take third and fourth at the state tournament.
Down several top players from last year’s groups, all three teams will look towards who’s left to keep that hierarchy in place.
Gone are Zach Swanson (Minor League Baseball), Tristan Percival (Pierce College), and Ashton Demarest (Eastern Oregon football), who all dominated on the mound all spring in 2024.
Back, though, are several other studs. Dominic Rivera and Easton White both earned all-league honors last year in Toutle.
Danner Hoinowski, last year’s All-Area MVP, is back to headline the Pirates lineup alongside Beau Miller and Cameron Nakano, who were both second-team honorees last spring.
Beckett Landram is already off to a blazing start for Napavine, and Cal Bullock has also made noise early.
Those cores will keep the three teams competing for the top, but multiple other teams are hoping to make the leap into the league’s top tier.
Toledo finished fourth last season and got within one game of a state tournament appearance, and the Riverhawks are down seven seniors from last year’s squad, including all three of their all-league honorees.
There are a few key pieces back, however. Rohan Feigenbaum (.410), Brady Weeks (.364), and Nico Acosta (.316) all hit over .300 last season and are expected to lead the offense again.
Ryker Sorenson (1.91 ERA) is back to lead the way on the bump, but the question with the pitching will be who else can fill in alongside him.
Rainier finished seventh last season and went one-and-done at the district tournament to finish the year 7-13.
The Mountaineers saw an uptick in numbers this season (from 24 to 34), bringing a level of depth and experience that they didn’t have this time last spring.
Hunter Howell and Dayton Garnder will look to excel as a duo on the mound, and Howell is also expected to get plenty of time at shortstop when he isn’t pitching.
Peyton Sheaffer is expected to see time at both third and short, and Yazama Gurnsey will be in center field looking to build off a season in which he hit .320.
Winlock, Morton-White Pass, and Onalaska will look to make the jump into postseason contention after winning a combined eight games last season.
Mossyrock will also look to make it back to the postseason after making the jump back from the 1B realm.
Easton Kolb is back with his .551 average and 2.61 ERA from a year ago, and Mason Atter and Wylde Greisen are also back in the mix.
Over in the P2BL, the Pe Ell/Willapa Valley Titans bring back all but two graduated seniors, including Liam Smaciarz and Lucas Lusk, two of their all-league honorees from last season.
The Titans fell two wins shy of a state tournament berth last season, and if they finish at or near the top of the P2BL again this year, things could line up nicely for them come playoff time.
