Colfax team books 2-2 at Potlatch tournament

Carter Dahmen, a Colton recruit for the Colfax 12-under team, slides into third base before Wyatt Yager of Latah County can get the tag down Saturday at the Wooden Bat Classic in Potlatch.

Colfax 12-under Little Leaguers posted a 2-2 mark Friday and Saturday in the Potlatch Wooden Bat tournament at Scenic Six Park. The .500 mark for win-loss wasn’t enough to get them into the final rounds Sunday.

Format for the tourney called for the top two teams from each pool to go into semi-final and final rounds on Sunday. Each pool had five teams.

Havin Heytvelt of Pomeroy lets one fly at Latah County in the first game for the Colfax team Saturday evening at Potlatch.

Spokane Cougars, a team which dominated the tournament, topped the pool where Colfax was seeded. The Cougs booked a run of shutouts to advance to the finals.

“They’re probably one of the best Little League teams I’ve ever seen,” Colfax Coach Wayne Gregory noted.

Colfax will start another tourney round Friday at the Pullman Summer Classic with a noon game booked against the Pullman-Colton Tigers. They will have a second game at 8 p.m. against Orofino.

Saturday, Colfax will play at 2 and 6:20 with Trail, B.C. and North Idaho as the foes.

Last Friday at Potlatch, the Cougars started the Wooden Bat Classic with an 8-0 win over the host Potlatch 12s. Havin Heytvelt, a Pomeroy recruit, started for Colfax and Danny Robinson pitched the last three innings.

Heytvelt belted a two-run double in the first, then Colfax added three more runs in the third off a string of four singles.

Jeff Davies doubled in two more runs in the fourth inning to finish it out.

In the second game Friday afternoon, the Pullman Pythons had a strong start on the way to a 14-4 win over Colfax. The Pythons started with a five run first inning. Errors took a big toll for Colfax in the early game.

Keith Gfeller had the start for Colfax.

The Pythons finished with 14 hits. Colfax batters finished with eight hits.

They scored one run in the third innings and came back to add three more in the fourth off hits by Gfeller, Heytvelt, Matt Sharp and Cal Gregory.

Colfax players had to wait out most of Saturday before they had a 6 p.m. matchup with Latah County Stars. Colfax posted a 3-1 lead after three innings and then bombed the LC club with seven runs in the fourth inning. Carter Dahmen of Colton, Gfeller, Davies and Logan Gingerich hit singles, and the Latah team booked four errors in the inning.

Final score for the Colfax win was 12-2.

The entry ended with a 10-0 shutout from the Spokane Cougs Saturday night. Heytvelt and Cal Gregory had the lone hits against the strong Spokane pitching.