Yakima Valley Pepsi Pak players and coaches pose at home plate after winning the Washington Senior Legion state championship by beating Lakeside Recovery 11-3 on Wednesday at AK Jackson Field in Spokane. 

Yakima Valley Peppers players and coaches pose after winning the Washington Junior Legion state championship Wednesday at Carlon Park.

Yakima Valley Pepsi Pak players and coaches pose at home plate after winning the Washington Senior Legion state championship by beating Lakeside Recovery 11-3 on Wednesday at AK Jackson Field in Spokane. 

Yakima Valley Peppers players and coaches pose after winning the Washington Junior Legion state championship Wednesday at Carlon Park.

Day by day in Spokane and Selah, each march followed a different path but they ended up in the same place with the same treasure.

Championship celebrations, trophies and awards.

Yakima Valley’s Pepsi Pak and Peppers swept the Senior and Junior Legion state titles on Wednesday, Washington’s first program to have done that in 2014 and eight years later the Pak and Peppers — with the same head coaches — have doubled down on that history.

After winning state titles in 2017, 2018 and last year, the Pak produced a peak performance in Spokane that lasted all five days and culminated in an 11-3 victory over Lakeside Recovery. That’s now 14 straight wins at state for the Pak, which has also won 22 of its last 23 games at this level.

Centerfielder Adam Goodrich was named the tournament MVP with eight of his team-high 10 RBI coming in the last two games, including driving in five with three hits in the title game.

Yakima Valley’s offense never had an off day, lighting up the scoreboard for 58 runs while batting .422 during the 5-0 run at AK Jackson Field. Everybody hit as Ryker Fortier was 10-for-15 in the leadoff spot with nine runs scored while John Sullivan and Grant Chapman, batting 8-9 in the potent lineup, combined for 11 RBI. Cade Gibson had at least one RBI in every game and Drew Johnson had three of the team’s nine doubles.

Overall, YV’s hitters drew 31 walks and struck out only 10 times in 135 plate appearances.

That’s an example of the Pak’s long-standing emphasis on not giving anything away and avoiding self-inflicted wounds. More examples: Yakima Valley’s defense committed only two errors in 31 innings — that’s right, two — and the pitching staff yielded only four walks.

Steven Johnson anchored that pin-point staff — which is entirely new from last year — with wins in the first and last games, earning him the pitcher of the tournament award. Each member of the rotation went deep as Johnson, Eian Peralta and John Sullivan all threw complete games.

The Pak (38-6) will depart early next week for the program’s eighth appearance in the Northwest Regional tournament, which will be hosted by Gillette, Wyo., on Aug. 3-7.

On the home field in Selah, the Peppers gave their crowd plenty of thrills and nail-biters while navigating the eight-team Junior state field that converged on Archer Stadium.

After finishing third in the Central Washington League, the Peppers rose to the occasion when it counted, winning the district title and then four of five in the state bracket capped by Wednesday’s 3-1 championship win over Coeur d’Alene.

Evan Ancira was named the tournament MVP and was the winning pitcher in the finale, and Conner Speer received the top pitcher award for his three saves, two of which closed out games that saw the Peppers rally from three-run deficits.

Ancira hit two doubles, scored five runs and drove in four, including a bases-clearing double that put his team ahead 6-4 in the crucial win over Kennewick on Monday. Speer allowed just one hit in 4.1 scoreless innings of relief.

With the Junior Legion season ending at the state level, the Peppers finished 43-10.

Reach Scott Spruill at sspruill@yakimaherald.com.

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