4A Baseball | Richland takes crown

Richland won its third Class 4A baseball title in nine seasons Saturday night by beating Snohomish 7-3, and the win completed an emotional season for coach Ben Jacobs.

Jacobs' father, Larry, died March 21 of bone cancer and the entire Bombers team attended the funeral.

On March 23, Jacobs' son, sophomore shortstop Brett, hit a walk-off home run against Kennewick. Ben Jacobs said he felt his father's presence at that game.

"It was a strange feeling," he said.

After Saturday's win, the coach had a quiet moment thinking about his father.

"He didn't want us to worry about him," Jacobs said. "He would want us to win it just like this. It was special."

It sure was.

The Bombers (24-2) prevailed against Snohomish with solid pitching, good defense and timely hitting.

Senior Nick Leid scattered four Snohomish hits over the first six innings before being lifted with a 7-1 led.

Junior Kevin Lathim went 3 for 4, including a triple, and drove in three runs.

Snohomish coach Kim Hammons credited Richland with good scouting, saying, "They knew which guys to throw sliders to." But Jacobs said there had been no such scouting.

Richland jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first inning on a run-producing single by Tyler Thompson, who later scored while Nick Lundgren was involved in a botched rundown between second and third. The Bombers added two runs in the second on a two-run single by Lathim. Lathim tripled home Jamison Rowe, then scored on a wild pitch in the fourth.

Richland's previous titles under Jacobs came in 1999 and 2005.

It won't be a surprise if both teams wind up back at Safeco next year. Snohomish has only two seniors and Richland started three sophomores, including the coach's son Brett, who played in the 2003 Little League World Series.

Two-day attendance for the 3A and 4A games at Safeco was 8,835, a considerable drop from last year when it was 13,840. Jackson of Mill Creek was ranked No. 2 in the nation and was the big draw last year.

Third-place game

Tahoma 8, Bothell 7

Down 7-0 entering the bottom of the fifth, J.J. Thompson and Riley Tubbs ignited the comeback in the 4A consolation game with back-to-back home runs over the left-field fence.

The Bears got two more runs in the inning and chased starter Kyle McGregor, who hit the last two batters he faced.

In the four-run sixth, two errors, two walks and a two-run triple by Kyle Conwell, nephew of NFL tight end Ernie Conwell, did the damage.

"You've got to pitch and we didn't pitch," said Bothell coach Paul Moody. "You can't walk people and hit people."

Three Bothell pitchers combined for six walks and five hit batsmen in the loss.

Top-ranked Tahoma (23-3) took third place with the win after finishing fourth last year when it dropped two games at Safeco.

Tubbs said last year's seniors "gave up" in the consolation game against Kentwood and said this year's seniors were determined to win.

This was the first trip to the Final Four for Bothell and the Cougars finished 20-7.