Cascade Christian senior Ashton Moody slides into home plate following a wild pitch Wednesday against Valley Catholic at Lithia & Driveway Fields.

After a turbulent start, Cascade Christian couldn’t find a final answer deep into Wednesday’s Class 3A state playoff opener against Valley Catholic in a 10-8, 10-inning loss at Lithia & Driveway Fields.

The tides seemed to change with every passing inning, with both sides battling hard in what was officially a second-round showdown, but it was the No. 11-seeded Valiants (19-8) left standing in a marathon thriller.

The loss ended the Challengers’ bid for a potential triple-crown achievement after claiming 3A titles already this school year — like the previous year — in football and boys basketball.

Valley Catholic left fielder Kris Radosavljevic started the final swing, smashing a triple to create a 9-8 lead in the top of the 10th inning before Jordan Baumgartner drove an RBI grounder into left field to set the stages for the 10-8 victory.

The sixth-seeded Challengers (20-8) couldn’t find the magic to respond in their final plate appearances as they had before — rallying out of two deficits, including a four-run seventh inning that pushed the game into extra innings.

Cascade Christian dug out of a 2-0 hole in the third inning before staging an epic seventh-inning comeback to tie the game at 8-all.

“I thought that early in the game, we did some things that we haven’t done before,” said Cascade Christian baseball coach Kevin Shafer. “I thought we lost command of the zone a little bit, so we walked some guys, and didn’t take care of the ball sometimes.”

“We did a great job of fighting to get back into it,” he added. “And we got a chance to prove it and (Valley Catholic) just did a good job of making pitches when they needed to.”

Going into the extra innings, all the momentum was for the Challengers after what seemed like an improbable comeback.

Cole Stofflet started it by smoking a fly ball to left to bring Ashton Moody home, and Jack Knips added to it with a run off a fielder’s choice to trim the deficit to 8-6.

To top off the comeback, Carson Willard floated a two-out fly ball to right field that a group of Valiants couldn’t haul in, allowing Stofflet and Hurley to race home for the tie.

“That was probably the most energy I think we’ve ever had all year,” said Challengers senior Noah Letendre. “It was Jack Knips, he was at the head of it. He gave us all the energy when we were feeling down and Jack was the one that got us up.”

“I had a little doubt whenever (Valley Catholic) took the lead,” he added, “but our bottom half of our order came in clutch and they really just carried us today.”

The seventh was Cascade’s best hitting inning of the game, with Valley Catholic holding a 13-6 hit advantage overall.

Elliott Bielefeld went 2-for-4 for the Valiants with four RBIs, while Erickson, Justin Lulay and Baumgartner had two hits each.

Knips led the way by going 2-for-4 with an RBI for Cascade Christian, and Willard had two RBIs. Letendre, Stofflet and C.J. Bonner also provided RBI efforts.

Most of the contact for Cascade Christian, however, came in the form of pop-ups that were easily gathered in.

“I think we needed to do better on some of our at-bats,” said Willard. “We just needed some more groundballs, groundballs was the main thing.”

Cascade Christian built a 4-2 lead through four innings but that was canceled out by Valley Catholic scoring four runs in the fifth inning and two more in the sixth for an 8-4 switch, which included miscommunication on a double steal that led to the scoring.

“The whole purpose of applying pressure on teams offensively is to make them make the good decisions,” said Shafer about the steal. “But we were confused and didn’t make a very good decision with it.”

In the bottom of the ninth, Grady Sickler was tagged out in an attempt to steal second base, giving the Challengers two outs. The gamble also didn’t pay off because it changed the batting order for Cascade Christian going into the 10th inning.

“It was a situation where we always try to be aggressive on the basis,” Shafer said about Sickler. “It wasn’t the right time to be aggressive on the bases just because we were in a situation where, in the worst case scenario, there’s two outs after that. We also would start the 10th 9-1-2 instead of 8-9-1. It just wasn’t the right time to be aggressive.”

Despite the season ending short of a return to the 3A championship game, Shafer said he was amazed with the belief that he and his players had in this team to the final out.

“We felt that we could do it and I truly did,” he said. “We truly felt like we could be a team to end the year in a dogpile at home plate. It didn’t happen and, like I explained to our guys, losing today feels the same like when we lost in the state finals last year.”

Cascade Christian will also lose some mainstays of the roster that Shafer has had with him since he became the head coach three years ago.

“This is our third consecutive 20-win season,” Shafer said. “The seniors — Knips, Moody, Noah Letendre and Cole Stofflet — have win totals in the 60s. That’s an amazing legacy to leave. They’re leaving with this program in a better place than when they started.”

Echoed Letendre: “This is probably the best team I’ve been a part of and I know we weren’t expected to go this far. But I just have faith in the new kids. I hope they keep going, keep it strong.”

Valley Catholic 101 042 000 2 — 10 13 4

Cascade Christian 002 200 400 0 — 8 6 2

Jackson, B. Yee (4), Lulay (8), and Miller; Stofflet, Letendre (6) and Sickler. W — Lulay. L — Letendre. 2B — VC: T. Yee; CC: Moody, Bonner, Stofflet, Willard. 3B — VC: Radosavljevic.