Rest of West Rallies, Then Loses, 12-8, to Vancouver

Woodland Hills West went into Saturday night’s American Legion Northwest regional tournament game with a singular purpose--to survive the game and take its chances in the championship round today.

With six West players in the grandstands because of a suspension for curfew violation early Saturday morning, what was left of West lost to Vancouver, Wash., 12-8, Saturday night at Lewis-Clark State College.

Most of it was attributable to an exhibition of single-mindedness by Vancouver.

Vancouver used six singles in the third inning to score six runs and appeared poised to hand West its first defeat of the tournament.

West will play the winner of today’s 4:05 p.m. game between Vancouver and Lewis-Clark for the championship at 7:35 tonight. The six suspended players will be reinstated for tonight’s game.

Lewis-Clark defeated Meridian, Ida., 10-9, Saturday. Vancouver (45-19), Lewis-Clark and West all enter today’s games with 3-1 records in the double-elimination tournament.

“It’s not going to be very hard to regroup,” West Coach Gary Gibson said. “Everybody will be back and believe me, these guys want it pretty bad.”

Despite the absence of the suspended players, West nearly pulled off an upset. After trailing, 7-1, West rallied to within 7-6, spurred by the play of reserves such as outfielder Gregg Sheren, who was three for four with four runs batted in.

“I think all of us played our hardest,” said Sheren, whose chin was cut open and whose mouth was ringed with dirt after a headfirst slide into second base.

West (33-6) scored four runs in the top of the seventh to cut the Vancouver lead to 7-6.

Paul Geller and Ryan McGuire singled to open the inning, but McGuire was gunned down at second trying to stretch his hit into a double. Jason Cohen drove in Geller with a single to left to make it 7-3.

Bobby Kim followed with a single to right, Cohen moving to third. Greg Lederman walked to load the bases for Sheren, who then drilled a single into left-center to score Cohen and Kim, cutting the Vancouver lead to two runs and driving Pat Lamonica from the game.

Lederman made it 7-6 when he scored on an RBI ground out by Jeff Marks.

Vancouver answered with a run in the bottom of the seventh on a single by Shaniko Ristau, a sacrifice bunt and a single by Travis Moore. The Cardinals added four runs in the eighth.

The West starting battery also included left-handed catcher McGuire, who spent Saturday afternoon trying to locate a mitt to wear. It was his first appearance behind the plate since he was 12 years old. McGuire was unaffected in the batter’s box, throwing in three hits over the first seven innings to give him seven in the tournament.

West had only one reserve on the bench, right-handed pitcher Lance Gibson, who is expected to start today. The six players who were suspended were not allowed to dress for the game and watched from the stands.

West, which had 15 hits, took a 1-0 lead in the second, taking advantage of two Vancouver errors. Kim led off with a bunt to third, but Vancouver first baseman Troy Flynn missed a throw from Lamonica, Kim taking second. Lederman then reached first on third baseman Don Slattery’s throwing error, Kim moving to third on the overthrow.

Sheren gave West a run with a liner off the wall in left, scoring Kim. Marks and Chris Teich struck out and Lamonica retired Ricky Banuelos on a looper to short to end the threat.

But the lead evaporated in the third when Vancouver rattled West right-hander Geller (0-2) by sending 11 batters to the plate, seven of whom singled.

Vancouver leadoff man Scott Rabitoy opened the inning with a single to left and Steve Ramos followed with a single to center. Rabitoy was forced at third by Flynn, who reached base when West third baseman Lederman threw the ball away at first.

The hit parade then began in earnest.

Derek Schafte, Slattery, Ristau, Brian Knight and Jeff Stephenson all had consecutive singles to give Vancouver a 5-1 lead. The sixth run scored when Lamonica grounded to Teich at first, who bobbled the feed to Geller covering the bag.

Geller, who moved back to his more customary position at second base to open the fourth inning, allowed six runs on nine hits, walked none and struck out one. Five runs were earned.

West added an unearned run in the fifth to cut the deficit to 7-2.