Prep baseball: Adna gets unlucky, suffers first loss of season to Toutle Lake

Q: What was the final score of the Adna vs. Toutle Lake baseball game?

The final score was Toutle Lake 7, Adna 3.

Q: When did Adna baseball team lose their first game of the season?

Adna baseball team lost their first game of the season on April 18.

Q: Where did the Adna vs. Toutle Lake baseball game take place?

The game took place at Adna High School.

Q: What were the scoring innings in the Adna vs. Toutle Lake game?

Toutle Lake scored in the 2nd and 5th innings, while Adna scored in the 3rd and 4th innings.

Apr. 18—BOX SCORE

At Adna HS

DUCKS 7, PIRATES 3

Toutle Lake200 500 0 — 7

Adna001 020 0 — 3

TL Pitching — Hanson 7 IP, 4 H, 3 R (1 ER), 1 BB, 4 SO. Highlights — Hanson 2-3, 2 RBI, BB; Rivera 1-4, 2 RBI; White 1-2, 2 RBI, 2 BB

ADNA Pitching — Pennington 3.2 IP, 4 H, 6 ER, 4 BB, 7 SO; Sliva 0 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 0 SO; Richards 3.1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 SO. Highlights — Bright 2-3, 2 R, SB; Nakano 1-3, 2 RBI, SB; Guerrero 1-3, SB

ADNA — By the time the Adna High School baseball team entered May in 2025, they didn't know what a loss felt like.

It wasn't until the regular season finale when Tenino put up a handful of runs late for the Pirates to fall 10-2. What followed was the Class 2B District 4 Championship heartbreaker to Ilwaco and a state quarterfinal defeat at the hands of Asotin.

A similar-type story was in the process of unveiling in the same light this season. Only two seven inning games and plenty of blowouts occupied their early schedule.

"Play with more of a chip on your shoulder, humbles us a little bit, makes us a little bit more hungry," Adna head coach Jake Overbay said. "When you go undefeated, you start to get complacent. This is good for us."

Consider the chip placed.

Adna couldn't find the gaps, made one key baserunning mishap and two of its three pitchers struggled in stretches as part of a 7-3 loss to Toutle Lake at home in a C2BL contest on Friday afternoon.

The dream of a perfect season was dashed in just over two hours. Yet Overbay is looking at the glass half-full.

"Today was a great day of life lessons in the sense that you didn't give up, you didn't cave," he said. "It was a good growing pain. I like to see a little bit of hanging heads, that means it means something to you. We may not be happy to hang out with our mom, dad and girlfriend right now."

It's been a theme for the Ducks in the two-game series versus the teams above in the standings — Adna, Toledo and Napavine. Game 1 results are 0-3 with an average margin of defeat of seven runs per game.

Yet in the second meetings, they are 3-0 with victories by eight, one and four runs. It took one crooked inning for them to grab Friday's contest by the horns.

All coming with two outs, Toutle Lake plated five runs on three hits in the fourth. Pirates starter Jack Pennington was a strike away from getting out of a bases-loaded situation, but his final pitch grazed the helmet of Toutle's Timber Buker to keep the frame alive.

Another RBI walk and back-to-back run-scoring singles ended the short outing for Elijah Sliva.

"He was starting to labor and it was the longest outing he's had so far," Overbay said of Pennington. "He pitched well. One pitch away, could be a completely different ballgame."

Adna (11-1, 10-1 C2BL) had its best chance in the fifth after a two-run knock by senior Cameron Nakano and a steal of second prevented the thought of a double play with the tying run still a couple batters away.

Dominic Rivera of the Ducks outfield had other ideas.

Like it was for much of the day, the Pirates did everything possible to generate offense and it never materialized. Cash Smith thought he had a bloop single, only for Rivera to cover ground in center, dive for it and proceed to double off Nakano to end the inning.

"It was brutal," Overbay said. "I thought Cameron made a decent read. It was a big rally for them."

Jackson Bright was the lone Pirate with multiple hits and he scored twice. He alongside Nakano and Talan Guerrero all had hits and one stolen base. Pennington still struck out seven despite the four walks and six earned runs.

Relief pitcher Brody Richards came in and shoved for three-plus innings of shutout ball with five strikeouts.

The schedule for Adna doesn't get any easier, starting on Saturday with a second meeting versus Pe Ell/Willapa Valley then a district title rematch versus Ilwaco on Monday. It still has two games apiece with Toledo and Napavine.

Overbay wouldn't want it any other way.

"We have a huge lineup and our mental approach has to be more of our focus," he said. "It is challenge after challenge, there are no breaks. I think we'll handle it well."