COWLITZ, Wash. — The Walla Walla Sweets brought home four runs in the top of the seventh to tie the Cowlitz Black Bears late in the game. However, Two runs in the bottom half of the inning were enough to push the Black Bears past the Sweets 7-5.

Walla Walla opened the scoring in the top of the third, with David Mysza scoring on a wild pitch.

The lead did not last long unfortunately. Cowlitz brought home five runs in the bottom of the half. Two runs were scored off two RBI singles to give the Black Bears the lead. With the bases loaded and only one out, a fielder’s choice play at the plate kept it a one-run ball game. Walla Walla was very close to leaving the bags full of Bears for the second time in three innings. However, a bases clearing triple from Nick Miller made it 5-1 in favor of Cowlitz.

The Sweets were quiet for the middle three innings but found their groove in the seventh. After a leadoff walk from Chipper Beck, Kennedy Hara knocked his second double of the season to put both of them in scoring position.

Mysza brought home Beck with an RBI groundout that also moved Hara to third. Davis Mauzy was hit by a pitch to put runners on the corners and bring up Cort MacDonald. The junior from Stanford then slapped an RBI single to bring home Hara.

With the tying run on first, Stevie Hom roped a single to right field that brought home Mauzy. The Cowlitz right fielder then bobbled the ball which allowed MacDonald to come home and tie the game at five. Hom tried to stretch the single and error to three bags but stumbled on the turf in between second and third and was tagged out, ending the inning.

Walla Walla had clawed their way back, but again the Black Bears responded with runs of their own to retake the lead. In the bottom of the seventh, Cowlitz scored two runs of another Miller hit.

Walla Walla had their best chance to retie the game in the eighth, loading the bases with two outs, but a groundout left all three baserunners stranded.

The Sweets only got one baserunner on in the ninth as the Black Bears closed it out to win 7-5.

The loss drops the Sweets to 2-9 in the second half and 11-26 overall. Game two of the series with Cowlitz Black Bears is Saturday with first pitch set for 7:05. Sweets’ coverage of the game can be found on Mixlr.com.