Selah players celebrate after beating River Ridge in the Class 2A state quarterfinals last Saturday in Yelm, Wash.   INGRID BARRENTINE/ For the Yakima Herald-Republic

Vikings fueled up for high-octane final four
 
By ROGER UNDERWOOD
YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC

Every final four is different, and Mike Archer should know since he's coached in six of them.

The Selah coach's seventh, which at 7 p.m. Friday will pit his No. 2 Vikings (23-1) opposite third-ranked Chehalis (24-1), figures to offer an especially appealing type of uniqueness.

According to Archer, it's loaded.

"For as long as I've been involved," he said, "this has to be one of the most competitive final fours we've been in. Chehalis is really good. Cedarcrest is legit. Othello oozes with talent.

"This is one of the best final fours I can recall, even when we were 3A."

That said, it could also be opined that Selah clearly belongs.

Those concerned by the Viks' lone loss, 7-1 to Othello in the CWAC district title game, were no doubt reassured by last Saturday's 8-0 vanquishing of two-time defending state champion Sehome, followed by a 9-8 defeat of
sixth-ranked River Ridge.

So here they are again, for the second time in three years and the fifth since 2000.

Preceding Selah-Chehalis will be Cedarcrest (18-5) against Othello (20-4) at 4 p.m. Saturday's title game is set for 7 p.m.

"After the Othello game, they just beat us and we told the kids that happens sometimes," said Archer, who's in his 14th season as the Vikings' head coach. "But we pushed our kids hard last week. We pushed them physically and
emotionally and we challenged them as athletes, and they busted their humps and responded."

Especially gratifying to the coach was the Vikings' perseverance against River Ridge. Despite trailing 2-0, 6-4 and 8-7, Selah won.

"There was no choice," Archer said. "You either stick your tail between your legs or you buck up and play the game."

As if Jake Fife needed to provide an encore to a remarkable regular season, he did so with a two-hit, 12-strikeout blanking of Sehome. He also homered and drove in two runs against the Mariners, then went 3-for-4 with another long ball and three RBI against River Ridge.

On the mound this season Fife is 9-0 with a 0.75 earned run average and 91 strikeouts in 56 innings. At the plate he's hitting .488 with five homers and 68 RBI, and is one of four regulars batting better than .400 (Kurt Lindemann is at .498, Matt Snider's at .469 and Trevor Dallman is at .463).

"Jake's always got something in his back pocket that he can surprise me with," Archer said, "but it's not about Jake, and Jake knows it's not about Jake. The most important player on the team is the guy standing next to you."

The guy standing next to any given Chehalis player is likely to be an all-leaguer, with no fewer than 10 Bearcats on the all-Evergreen Conference first and second teams.

That's counting MVP Robert Pehl, a pitcher who started Chehalis' first-round state game against Klahowya and was also 3-for-5 with three RBI, and coach-of-the-year Tom Zuber.

Of course, Archer and Fife were coach and player of the year, respectively, in the CWAC. So the Vikings, too, have star power. Plus they have depth, tradition and most other things you want in a high school baseball program.

And of course they'd like nothing more than to add the one thing the program's lacking -- a state championship.

"All I know right now," Archer said, "is we'll be on time."