PENDLETON – The Hermiston Heat found themselves in hot water in their final two games of the Hodgen Distributing American Legion Baseball Tournament Sunday.

In their semifinal game against the powerhouse Kennewick Bandits, the Heat didn’t fare any better than any of the other teams in the tournament, losing 17-0.

They had a shot to make up for it later in the day against La Grande’s East Oregon Emeralds, but couldn’t buy a hit in their 5-0 loss.

The Heat had only one strikeout, one walk and one hit batter the entire seven innings but still managed four hits.

“All day, we couldn’t get a lead-off guy on base,” coach Bryan Johnson said. “We couldn’t string any hits together. We had hit balls hard here and there, just never two-three in a row.”

The Emeralds went up 1-0 on the Heat in the bottom of the first inning when center fielder Seager Pence reached base on an error by Heat third baseman Andre Rauch and moved to third on a Richie Carmichael double.

Right fielder Allen Shankle then brought him home on a sacrifice fly to right.

The Emeralds struck again in the second when starting pitcher Travis Hudson ran home from third base after a high pick-off attempt from Heat catcher Jose Rosales.

They scored their other three runs in a three-hit fifth.

Hudson lasted the entire outing in the win for the Emeralds while the Heat’s Matt Ellis was saddled with the loss.

The Emeralds had lost their semifinal game to The Dalles’ Columbia Gorge Hustlers 8-0, which set up a rematch between the Hustlers and the Bandits for the tournament championship.

“We wanted another shot at it,” Hustlers coach Doug Sawyer said in regard to their 21-4 loss to Kennewick on Friday. “It’s a long tournament, Kennewick is obviously a good team and you’ve got to do things right.”

The Bandits looked destined to improve on their previous mark when they shook off a scoreless first inning to send 15 batters to the plate in the second, scoring 10 runs on seven hits.

Every player in the Bandits’ lineup scored on the team’s first trip through the ranks that inning.

They went on to win the championship 20-9.

Third baseman Landon Scott capped the scoring with a two-run home run over the right field wall.

They put up nine more runs in the fourth inning, batting through the lineup again and getting a solo shot from catcher Layton Brown.

“This team can really hit the ball,” Bandits coach Gary Key said. “I’m disappointed when they don’t hit the ball … but the fact that they hit the ball so well was a pleasant surprise.”

The Bandits got plenty of help from the Hustlers in their two big innings. They committed six of their seven errors in those innings.

“When you’re playing against a team like (Kennewick), you obviously can’t give them extra outs,” Sawyer said. “It’s what you do after something goes wrong that determines what kind of team you’re going to be. We’re not that team yet because we’re not mentally tough enough.”

Kennewick proved they were too much for Eastern Oregon teams to handle, winning their five games of the tournament by an average of 13 runs. Their closest game was an 11-4 win against La Grande Saturday.

“I don’t want to take anything away from these teams,” Key said, “but on the same token, we play in the Central Washington League and that league has got a reputation for being the toughest American Legion league in the state.

“These are quality clubs (at the tournament) but I think the level of competition we see day in and day out is probably a little better.”

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Third place game R H E

HERMISTON 000 000 0 – 0 4 1

LA GRANDE 110 030 X – 5 7 1

Matt Ellis, Derrick Smith (6) and Jose Rosales; Travis Hudson and Travis Ludwig. W – Hudson; L – Ellis.

2B – Richie Carmichael, Allen Shankle, Hudson (La Grande); Chance Kopacz, Andre Rauch (Hermiston).

Championship game R H E

KENNEWICK 0(10)1 90 – 20 20 2

THE DALLES 001 16 – 8 4 7

Ean Arnold, Tyler Leighty (5) and Layton Brown; Evan Kaseberg, Nick Dohrman (4), Quinn Mcnab (5) and Eliot Kaseberg. W – Arnold; L – Kaseberg.

2B – Kevin Valerio, Keith Woelber, Landon Scott, Austin Pentecost, Thomas Henderson (2) (Kennewick); Dallas Mattox (The Dalles). HR – Brown, Scott (Kennewick); Aaron Pray (The Dalles).

Final standings

1, Kennewick Bandits 5-0

2, Columbia Gorge Hustlers (The Dalles) 3-2

3, East Oregon Emeralds (La Grande) 3-2

4, Hermiston Heat 1-4

5, Ontario TV Stars 2-2

6, Hodgen Distributing Brewers (Pendleton) 0-4