EPHRATA — Summer ball is a grind, and the Ephrata Tigers Baseball Club learned that the hard way on Sunday. They walked away with second place in the Tillage League postseason tournament. It wasn’t the gold they wanted, but it was a hell of a run.
“The weekend was a really good way for us to finish our summer season,” Tigers Head Coach David Tempel said. He admitted the finale stung, but he couldn’t fault the hustle. His boys put in the work.
They started strong. After blanking the Monarch Baseball Club 2-0 on Thursday, they returned Friday to dismantle the Milton Freewater Twins.
Ephrata struck first in the second inning. They added three more in the fourth. By the time the dust settled, it was a 6-0 shutout. Cale Fronsman, Caleb Froewiss, Jaxson Uribe, and Mayson Stredwick shared the mound, giving up a measly three hits while racking up seven strikeouts.
Tempel praised the defense. Shutouts in tournament play don’t happen by accident.
Saturday was a dogfight. The Monarchs clawed their way back through the consolation bracket for a rematch. It was a classic pitcher’s duel. Zeroes lined the scoreboard for six innings.
Then came the seventh. A wild pitch from the Monarchs allowed C Iverson to cross the plate. Game over. Tigers win 1-0.
Froewiss was the hero here. He threw a complete-game two-hitter on just 75 pitches. It was a masterpiece of efficiency.
But Sunday brought the Kittitas County Cowboys. The Cowboys didn’t waste time. They hung two runs in the first, two in the third, and three in the fourth. Ephrata was gasping.
The Tigers showed life in the fifth. Five runs crossed the plate. Stredwick and Andrew Rowlands walked, Froewiss drove in one on a fielder’s choice, and Clayton Wolther drove in two with a single. Suddenly, it was a game.
It didn’t last. The Cowboys answered with five more runs over the next two frames. A lone run in the seventh wasn’t enough for Ephrata. The final score read 12-6, Kittitas.
Fronsman, Wolther, Uribe, and Stredwick split duties on the hill, but the Cowboys were too hot. Tempel credited the opponents for capitalizing on Ephrata’s mistakes, though he liked his team’s grit.
There were individual wins. Catcher Mitchell Johnson earned an All-Star nod. But for Tempel, the real victory was the program’s evolution. Players learned new positions. Pitchers stretched their arms. More importantly, the locker room gelled.
“It became more about the team,” Tempel noted. That chemistry showed when the pressure mounted.
Unlike many summer squads, the Tigers didn’t have to beg kids to show up. The commitment was there from day one. Playing in the Tillage League provided the kind of tight, high-stakes games these kids needed to grow.
Now comes the quiet season. Tempel wants his players to rest, but not too much. He wants them throwing and hitting with friends, keeping the rust off. When March rolls around, he expects them to hit the ground running.
