Cascade baseball team rolls over Royal, 14-7

The Cascade Kodiak baseball team was to open league play last Saturday with a double header at Omak, but the games were cancelled due to snow. No reschedule date has been announced. The only action for the team was a home game against the Royal Knights on March 20.
The Knights won state 1A football this past season, so they had some talent, but they were no match for the Kodiaks. Cascade won 14-7 to improve to 3-0 on the season.
“We led off offensively with Ben Sunitch hitting a double off the wall. That was certainly inspirational and got the kids going, which was fun. Mason (Kelly) had a hit behind him. The young guys near the top of the order got things going early,” said Cascade Head Coach Mike Kelly.
Cascade recorded only six hits, but out of those hits were 10 RBIs.
“We had some good situational hitting. We had a couple hit and runs that we executed well. For the most part, once we got into their bullpen, they had a tough time. That accounted for 16 walks. We had guys on base, and we executed,” Kelly said.
Sophomore shortstop Mason Kelly was 2-for-3 with 3 RBIs with 3 runs scored and 2 walks. JJ Hall was 2-for-2 with 3 RBIs and 3 walks. Sunitsch was 2-for-2 with an RBI and 3 runs scored.
Kelly said his pitching staff is taking shape, slowly but surely.
“We started the first couple games, sending guys out there. We have legitimately six guys that can go out there and start a ball game. Ben Sunitch is going to spend the majority of his time behind the plate. In actually, we have five guys that can come in and throw,” Kelly said. “All have had an equal amount of work with two innings each, keeping them around 30 pitches. The plan against Royal was to start Conrad and then JJ Hall. Both of those guys have done well early on. Both did very well until they were in that 45-50 pitch range, where they both kind of hit the wall.”
Pitching against Royal was Conrad Hasse, JJ Hall and Tyler Miller.
“The plan was to stretch them out just a little, get them close to 60 pitches. Conrad has good velocity and some off speed stuff. JJ had good pop on hit fastball and is continuing to develop the second and third pitch. The off speed will be important for both those guys,” Kelly said.
Cascade played a non-league game against Cle Elum on March 27. Results were not available before press time. The Kodiaks play a key double header at Okanogan (1-1, 2-1) on Saturday. The Bulldogs feature sophomore pitching ace Connor Ashworth.
“We match up really close with them. We are both young, just getting better and better. We have a notable increase in our ability with the kids just growing physically and mentally. I would expect the exact same thing with Okanogan,” Kelly said. “A couple of very competitive games. We’re hoping to get a couple. The way our league is this year, you going to have to win the series of each of the teams to have a shot at a league title.”
Cascade hosts 2B Colton next Tuesday.  
Ian Dunn can be reached at 548-5286 or editor@leavenworthecho.com.