Chase Cunningham delivers a pitch against Knappa.

ASTORIA — It was a weekend of wood bats, eye black and coastal baseball bragging rights.

On Friday, Saturday and Sunday, six teams, including Ilwaco, Astoria, Warrenton, Knappa, Seaside and Tillamook, clashed in a wood bat baseball tournament at Tapiola Park to close out the summer season, the final summer baseball tournament before varsity teams regroup next spring.

Ilwaco went 2-1 overall, including impressive wins over Seaside and Knappa, with a narrow loss to Warrenton in between.

Fishermen smash Seagulls 10-2In the first game on Friday, Ilwaco pounded Seaside 10-2 behind stellar pitching and timely hitting.

After a scoreless first three innings, the Fishermen took a 2-0 lead after runs by Boston Caron and Kaemon Sawa. Ilwaco added to their lead in the fourth inning following an RBI by Dylan Pelas, and back-to-back hits by Boston Caron and Cannon Johnson, pushing the score to 6-0. Seaside began to chip away in the fifth and sixth inning, trimming the deficit to 6-2, but Ilwaco answered with a trio of doubles by Dylan Pelas, Corbin Johnson and Boston Caron to put the game out of reach, 10-2.

Fishermen ace junior pitcher Jacob Rodgers was dominant on the mound through six innings, allowing only two runs. Ilwaco incoming freshman Dylan Pelas pitched the final inning in relief.

In a back-and-forth battle on Saturday, Ilwaco lost to Warrenton 6-4.

“We were in the lead at one point but just couldn’t finish it,” said Ilwaco head coach Brett Hopkins.

Fishermen outscore Loggers 11-10On Sunday, Ilwaco held on to top a determined Knappa team 11-10.

After a back-and-forth first inning, the Fishermen exploded for a six-run second inning powered by RBIs from Ethan Hopkins, Cannon Johnson and Jacob Rogers, giving Ilwaco a comfortable 8-2 lead. The comfort didn’t last, as Knappa roared back in the bottom of the fifth inning behind three straight run-scoring singles, trimming the difference to 10-7. In the sixth inning, a couple of Ilwaco underclassmen helped end the Knappa rally as Dylan Pelas and Corbin Johnson slapped singles, extending the Fishermen lead to 12-7 and extinguishing any threat of a Logger comeback.

Starting pitcher Dylan Pelas has been among the new faces to make an immediate impression on the Ilwaco coaching staff.

“No ego, no attitude, just a super nice kid — the kind you love to have,” Hopkins said. “And a very talented baseball player, too.”

Corbin Johnson, who played right field and will be a freshman next fall, also made an impressive debut for the Fishermen on offense and defense.

Bright future for Ilwaco baseballThe core of the team, a deeply skilled group of incoming juniors, are all anticipated to return next season and build upon the success of the 2022 season, where Ilwaco matched the deepest run in program history in reaching the 2B WIAA State Tournament.

“We had a fantastic high school season and it just carried forward,” Hopkins said. “We’ve got good depth everywhere.”

A major focus of the the summer league games was to work on fundamentals and build team chemistry ahead of the next spring season.

“The high school season is so short and compressed that you don’t really have time to develop skills, but that’s what you can do with the summer league,” Hopkins said.

“It was a good end to the year, we got a lot of young kids some playing time.”