The never-say-die Sumner American Legion No. 222 Deuces Wild baseball club wrapped up its summer U-19 Select campaign in Yakima, Wash., recently, by going two and out in the regional tournament.

The Deuces Wild boys had the misfortune of drawing the junior college-player-laden Selah Pepsi Pack squad, formerly the Yakima Beetles, out of the gate and were pummeled.

The Sumner bunch had shaken off the defeat by the next day and gave the Spokane Bandits a scare as they rallied back from an 8-0 deficit in the top of the ninth.

With two outs and the score sitting at 8-5 in favor of the base-stealing Bandits, Sumner loaded the bases and looked as if they may tie things up. They were unable to knot the score and were eliminated from further post-season competition.

“We had a lot of young guys on the team this season, going up against some fantastic select squads,” coach John Welker said. “We worked through a great deal of frustration and adversity during the long hot summer outings. In the end though we just could quite get it done in the play-offs. I feel that all the experience gained made us a better unit for next year.”

Welker, who was the host at Washington DeMarini/Wilson Top 96, one of the largest baseball clinics on the West Coast, said the coaches from Division I university’s in Oregon, California and Washington, who were there doing player evaluations, told him they saw some promise in a bevy of local high school players.

“The coaches from San Diego State and Oregon State mentioned that one of our Sumner High kids, who is going to be a senior mound guy for us next season, Cameron Steffey, had some potential with his cutter and a few of the other pitches in his arsenal,” Welker said.

“The coaches from Oregon (Universities of Portland and Willamette) also had some good reviews regarding SHS Spartans, Tyler Holland and Tanner Brinkman. Additionally, when I was chatting with a few of the California scouts from University of Cal-Berkley and Sacramento State at the end of the clinic. They said that they liked the abilities of Bonney Lake High junior Joey Gamache. They called Gamache a decent prospect with an upside, in that he is a lefty pitcher who hits from the right side of the plate,” Welker said.