PORT ANGELES — For the first time in many years, the Wilder Baseball Club is hosting the AAA American Legion state tournament at Civic Field beginning this weekend.
The tournament will feature eight teams from all around Washington and will begin Saturday. There will be a total of 15 games and the tournament culminates in the state championship game on July 31.
Wilder Senior coach Zac Moore said it’s the first time Wilder has hosted the state tournament since the formation of the Port Angeles Lefties in 2017. Each of the four American Legion regions takes turns hosting the state tournament and this year, it was Area 1’s turn.
“Port Angeles used to host the tournament all the time,” he said. “I put in an application and got approved for this year.”
It so happens the Lefties are on a road trip in Canada from Friday to July 31.
Wilder Senior travels all over the state and sometimes out of state to play American Legion summer baseball with only four AAA teams located west of the Cascades. Most the American Legion teams in Washington are based in central and eastern Washington with tournaments held in Yakima, Selah and Spokane all summer.
“Our kids are road warriors. They have to travel everywhere to play. Our closest opponent (Lakeside Recovery in Bellevue/Issaquah) is two-and-a-half hours away. They’re used to traveling,” Moore said. “This is nice to be able to sleep in our own beds and nice for their families.”
Moore also said the tournament brings a nice boost of visitors into the area with more than 125 players and their families arriving in the community this weekend.
Moore said lodging in the area was tight and he thanked the Red Lion Inn and 7 Cedars for helping to provide rooms at reasonable rates for families.
Moore also said the players and families from the hot and dry parts of central and eastern Washington will enjoy the comparably cool climate of the Olympic Peninsula.
“They love to play in this weather,” he said.
The tournament begins with Area 4 champion Pepsi Pak out of Yakima playing the Area 3 champion West Plains Cannons out of Medical Lake at 10 a.m. Saturday.
The Yakima Beetles, third in Area 3, will play a play-in opponent to be determined at 1 p.m., while Mount Spokane Wild (second in Area 3) will play Area 1 champion Lakeside Recovery at 4 p.m.
As the host team, the Wilder Seniors (16-17 overall, 5-7 in Area 1), will play in prime-time at 7 p.m. against Gonzaga Prep, which finished third in Area 3.
If Wilder wins its opener, the seniors next play at 7 p.m. Sunday. If they lose, they would play at 1 p.m. Sunday. Games will be played Monday, Tuesday and July 31 with a pair of games deciding the state champion at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m.
The favorites include Pepsi Pak, which went 16-0 in its division, the Cannons, which went 13-0 in its division and Lakeside Recovery, which went 10-1 in division play — though that one loss was to Wilder Senior.
