The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

PASCO - After their Monday night tie-breaker win over St. John-Endicott/ LaCrosse-Washtucna 8-5, the Dayton Bulldogs seemed ready to take on TriCities Prep Tuesday but "shot themselves in the foot" with errors, head coach Sal Bena­vides said after the game.

"We weren't mentally ready," he said. "I thought we were. But we just didn't get it done today."

The 10-1 loss was a dis­appointment to the young team. But the players, who nonetheless made it to the playoffs despite the odds, felt they learned from the season and are excited about their return next year, Bena­vides said.

"They're focusing on getting better next year," he said.

The night before their playoff loss, the Bulldogs took on the Tigercats in Pomeroy to break the tie for sixth place and won convinc­ingly thanks in large part to pitcher Logan Hays. He gave up only 5 hits during the six innings he was on the mound.

"Logan pitched a heck of a game for us," Benavides said. "He played as well as he has all year."

Tristan Warner got his team going when his hit brought in three runners in the first inning and the Bull­dogs were up 3-0. Dayton score another 3 runs on 4 hits in the 4th inning.

The Tigercats' answers fell short with one run each in the first three innings and 2 more in the 7th. The Bulldogs got into it from the bullpen, whooping and hol­lering to egg on their team­mates at every step. Every single player did something to deserve the Dayton win Monday.

"They all did something," Benavides said. "They were pumped."

Flying high off that win, the Bulldogs had the mo­mentum going into Tuesday afternoon's game, but the head coach already knew they could not make any errors in their first playoff game if they wanted to ad­vance.

In the end, Dayton had seven errors, many of which allowed the Jaguars to score.

"Our errors were very, very costly today," Bena­vides concluded. "That's way too many errors."

The Jaguars had the momentum from the start, pounding out hits that scored 4 runs in the first inning, 1 in the third, 3 in the 5th and 2 in the 6th. The Bulldogs scored only once in the 4th inning despite loading the bases.

"It was still 5-1 at that point and I felt pretty good about our chances," the coach said. But the young players never recovered from the Jaguars' 3 runs in the following inning.

Errors plagued the team throughout the season and kept them from getting more wins that seemed within reach. Still, the team re­turned home with pride in their better-than-expected 6-13 overall record and their minds on getting prepared for 2014, Benavides said.

"They're looking forward to next year," he said.