KELSO — The Marysville Knights got large contributions from each of their nine players in winning the Kelso Invitational baseball tournament June 13.
The Knights, made up of nine Marysville and Stilly Valley Little League 12-year-olds, went 7-0 in the tournament to earn the title.
“It was quite a weekend,” said Knights manager Jamie Elvrom. “We really hit the ball and you’ve got to hand to these kids. We were missing a couple of players and they each had to play every inning of all of those games in two days.”
A 4-1 win over West Lewis Country earned the title in a game where Tanner Bradford struck out 11 to earn the win.
The first three games in the tournament were pool play to determine seeding for bracket play the second day.
The Knights’ first win, an 11-1 rout of Sandy Black, was fueled by Bradford’s two home runs. The Knights easily flowed through pool play with blowouts of the ULC Bulldogs (14-3) in the second game and Sandy Red (12-2) in the third game.
“Everybody just chipped in against Sandy Red,” Elvrom said. “But we got a lot of help from Riley Oakes, who scored three runs against the Bulldogs, and Ryan Elvrom was 3-for-3 with three runs scored against Sandy Red.”
Earning the No. 2 seed out of pool play, the Knights drew Sandy Black again, winning 8-3 behind a strong outing on the mound from Nate Heckendorf and Oakes was 3-for-3 with three runs scored.
The Knights then defeated Sandy Red in the second round, 7-1, with Bradford pitching a complete game and going 3-for-3 with a pair of home runs.
In the semifinal game, the Knights were fueled by the first career home run by Ryan Elvrom. Kelso walked cleanup hitter Taylor Koellmer, who hit a home run earlier in the game, to get to Elvrom.
“That play sort of blew it open for us,” Jamie Elvrom said. “Up until then, the game was pretty close. They walked Goliath to get to David and he blew it open.”
Koellmer was 3-for-3 in the game with a walk.
After seven games, the Knights came away scoring 71 runs and hitting 11 round-trippers.
“It was a great tournament for us and we’re really excited for what these kids are capable of going forward,” Elvrom said.
Team members include: Oakes, Bradford, Dalton Evans, Koellmer, Elvrom, Heckendorf, Kyle Bayer, Colton Davis and Hunter Johnson. Coaches are Elvrom, Ben Davis and Travis Bradford.
