Drifters’ Middle-Innings Comeback Gives Way to Walla Walla’s Dominance in 16-8 Loss
(Photo by Ella Poor)
By Henry Light
WALLA WALLA, Wash. — The Drifters’ lineup displayed resilience, rallying from an early seven-run deficit in the rubber match in Walla Walla (13-11, 10-8), but Springfield’s pitching staff couldn’t hold up its end of the bargain, sealing a 16-8 loss.
Colton Perez and Evan Thomas each went deep in the Drifters’ explosive pursuit of Walla Walla’s quick start, but the Sweets overwhelmed Springfield on the other side of the ball, running away with the game as soon as their early lead was caught.
The Drifters (6-15, 3-9) fell into a 5-0 hole in the first inning thanks to a solo home run by Walla Walla’s Gage Reeser and a grand slam by Isaac Torres.
Perez provided a Drifters response in the top of the second, jumping on an up-and-in fastball for his second home run of the season, a solo shot.
The Sweets added another two runs in the bottom of the inning when Blake Stavros inherited runners on first and second with no outs, and allowed runs on a fielder’s choice and a sacrifice fly as he navigated the traffic.
Staring down a 7-1 deficit, the Drifters got to work, starting with three consecutive singles from Kahaku Harrison, Zac Daigre and Malosi Mata’afa Alferos. Johnny Elliott cut into the Sweets’ lead with a fifth straight single before Thomas tore it apart, hitting his first home run of the summer for a grand slam to make it a 7-6 game.
After working a 1-2-3 third inning by drawing weak contact, Stavros recorded the first two outs of the fourth the same way. In just two at-bats, the Sweets tacked on a run, pushing the lead back to two runs with a double and an RBI single.
Perez picked up his second RBI of the night in response, crushing a slider into the right-center field gap to keep the Drifters within reach. Karsten Hansen completed the comeback to what was once a six-run deficit, lining a single into shallow center field that allowed Perez to score from second through aggressive base running.
When the dust settled on a two walk, two error fifth inning for the Drifters’ defense, it had completely undone the lineup’s work, trailing 13-8 after the Sweets pushed across five runs.
Walla Walla ran away with the game in the later innings, tacking on two runs in the seventh and eighth to put the final touches on the eight-run win.
The Drifters open another road series in Ridgefield against the WCL South first-half champion, Raptors, at 6:35 p.m. on Friday. The game can be streamed for free on the Raptors’ YouTube channel.