Deer Park Baseball Keeps Their Bats Alive; Continue in Playoffs

A pair of dominant pitching performances by all league performers first provided a more favorable district tournament seeding, then propelled Stag baseball into the district semi finals. On their longest road trip of the season on May 5, and with the number three seed in the district tournament at stake, senior Ezekiel Callaham dominated on the mound and junior Ian Olietti did his work with the bat. Callaham would strike out 10 and Olietti had hits in all four at bats, including a double, as the Stags rode their performances to a 7-0 road win over Clarkston. The win clinched the third seed in the district playoffs and meant hosting a Rogers team that they had defeated three times by comfortable margins instead of an East Valley squad that owned a victory against them. In their district opener, Callaham would lead off the game on May 8 by reaching on an error and stole second. He would score on an Olietti single for a 1-0 lead. In the second inning, after the visiting Pirates had scored to tie, Deer Park would put some breathing room between themselves and Rogers. Aided by four Rogers errors, the Stags plated six runs. Pedar Tobeck provided a two-RBI single. In the bottom of the fourth inning, Tobeck and Olietti would draw free passes. Both scored with Hunter Robb finding the right center field gap for a triple. Payson Hanson would double and score to provide the final margin of 11-1. In addition to Cal- laham (first team outfield) and Olietti (first team infield), all league honors were bestowed on: Robb, second team pitcher; Austin Bruner, second team infielder; Parker Hamilton, second team designated hitter; Payson Hansen, honorable mention catcher; and Tobeck, honorable mention infielder. Deer Park played at Pullman on Tuesday, May 12, with results unavailable at press time.