Entering this season, the Cascade High School baseball team wasn’t expected to duplicate the success that it had last year. In 2010, the Kodiaks, led by the dynamic pitching duo of Evan Parton and Taylor Isadore, finished in second place in the Caribou Trail League and advanced to the 1A state tournament.

However, Parton and Isadore were seniors last year. They were part of a large senior class that graduated, leaving new head coach Mike Kelly with a plethora of underclassmen and players with little experience to fill out his starting nine. As a result, Cascade was supposed to undergo a rebuilding year and not present a serious challenge for a playoff spot this year.

But yet, the Kodiaks are indeed right in the middle of the CTL playoff race. After Tuesday’s 9-5 win over Omak, Cascade sports a 4-3 league record and is fighting with the Pioneers and Okanogan for the league’s third and final playoff spot.

“We’re hanging tight,” Kelly said. “It’s going to be competitive, a real dogfight. (Undefeated) Cashmere looks solid at the top, but anybody from Chelan right through Tonasket could get the next two spots.”

If the Kodiaks are able to grab one of those spots, their new pitching rotation must continue to be effective. Senior Geoffry Linn and junior Ben Smithson have taken the top two spots on Cascade’s staff and have done well, for the most part, in their first season of varsity pitching.

On Tuesday, Linn relieved Smithson in the third inning and turned in a fine relief effort, pitching the final five innings while allowing just one earned run and striking out eight.

Even though it’s obvious by looking at Linn’s Tuesday line that he’s capable of punching batters out, the Cascade pitchers have mostly rely on their defense to record outs this season.

“Last year we had, in my opinion, probably the best one-two (at the top of the rotation) with Parton (now playing at Whitworth University) and Isadore,” Kelly said. “With those guys, we knew that they’d each throw seven solid innings, keep the score competitive and we’d fight and scrap to score a couple runs and win the game. This year, we don’t have anybody like that. Linn has the most pitching experience, but it’s minimal. Smithson has been doing an excellent job in his first year (pitching).

“We have to continue to throw strikes. We’re not necessarily talking about strikeouts; we don’t have a bunch of guys that pitch to contact, and we look to play solid defense behind those guys. They’ve done a good job throughout the season putting the ball in play.”

Kelly starts two and sometimes three freshmen on any given day, and returns just three players – Linn, Smithson and Ben Hopkins – who registered action on the varsity squad last season.

But the coach is pleased with the way his young team has been developing.

“We’re improving,” he said. “It’s an inexperienced group that’s been working hard to learn the game and continue to get better. I think that if we’re fortunate to (get to the playoffs), we’ll continue to improve. Some of the guys we have haven’t played a lot; some haven’t played since Little League. But they’re great kids, great athletes who hustle a ton and have great heart. We have a bunch of guys who are eager to learn and fly all over the field.

"They learned quickly that there’s only one way to play baseball – all out, all the time.”

But Kelly knows that as the season comes to a close, his youngsters won’t really be rookies anymore. The inexperience will wear off, and seasoned veterans will start to emerge. That’s how the Kodiaks are going to continue to defy any expectations that were put on them at the start of the season.

“After (losing the nightcap of a doubleheader against Okanogan on April 16), that was our exact conversation,” Kelly said. “We can’t use (youth) as a crutch anymore. We can’t say that we’re young or inexperienced. We’re (10) games into the season, and that’s enough to get a feel for the game and be consistent and competitive every day. You have to do the simple things right. That’s where we’re at.

"We can’t use inexperience as a crutch or an excuse.”