STAT HOUND MEDIA
CENTRAL WASHINGTON DIGITAL PREP SPORTS
DANNY ROMINGER/Stat Hound contributor
Bolstered by program veterans, Beetles and Pak get season going
Yakima Valley looks to defend state title, while Yakima looks to gain ground
By JERREL SWENNING/Stat Hound
Jun 7, 2026
The Yakima Beetles and defending Senior Legion state champion Yakima Valley Pak have done a good part of the heavy lifting for the 2026 season – filling out a roster and lining up opponents – and now it’s time to play.
Yakima (22-21 overall, 0-8 league in 2025) opened its season Sunday with a doubleheader against the Brewster Rockits, while Yakima Valley (28-12, 7-1) gets going Tuesday with a trip to Spokane.
Getting to this point is more challenging than it has been. More players are opting for traveling teams, and Area 4 – the designation for the region that includes Yakima and the Tri-Cities – has just four Senior Legion teams, up a squad from a year ago.
“You gotta go get guys,” said Mike Archer, the Hall Fame coach who begins his 43rd year leading the Pak. “And it’s getting hard to schedule. There are teams that just play tournaments on the weekend, and don’t play during the week.”
Archer’s Pak is fortunate to be fed prominently by his Selah program, which finished fourth in the Class 2A state tournament for the second straight year, and West Valley, which was won its first 22 games of the season and hasn’t lost a conference game in the last two years under the guidance of Archer’s eldest son, Brooks.
The Pak’s roster returns nine players from last year’s squad, which won the ninth state title since 1993.
Returning players include Rams standouts Colby Graham, the CBBN Player of the Year, and Alex Morales, both of whom graduated Friday and are headed to Whitworth and Central Washington, respectively.
Vikings players include all-CWAC honorees Lucas Williams, Dylan Kingston and Cristian Keller, while 2026 grads Jake Snow and Easton Armstrong join the squad from CWAC rival Ellensburg.
Three 2025 high school graduates are back after competing in the NWAC – Selah alums Beau Benjamin and Rowdy Mullins, both playing at Skagit Valley, and West Valley grad Corbin Goodlake, an outfielder and pitcher at Walla Walla.
Yakima Valley also went north and added Eastmont’s Bodie Yale, a first-team all-CBBN outfielder, and Quincy’s Ashton Barnes-Keller, a second-team all-conference pitcher.
The program’s future also is in good hands, bolstered by Selah’s strong class of ninth-graders.
“Fortunately, we have good freshmen whose dads played for the Pak,” Archer said.
Fifth-year Beetles coach Roger Guzman, who leads the Eisenhower program during the spring, also has 12 program veterans to lean on.
Those players include all-SCAC first-teamers Nathan Kibbe and Caleb Rutherford, who helped Zillah tie Cashmere atop the conference standings, East Valley’s Braden Albrecht, an all-CWAC running back and baseball player, and Eisenhower grad Victor Garcia.
“Those guys are three-year Beetles, and they’ve helped out tremendously,” Guzman said.
The Beetles also have on their roster CBBN standouts and 2026 grads Ryker Heeringa and Sam Johnston of Sunnyside, and Davis’ Quinton Allen-Greggs.
Yakima will host the Bob Garretson Sr. Memorial Tournament June 18-21, and Guzman said the team is planning to honor Bob Garretson Jr., who died in December.
The younger Garretson took over the program from his father, and led the Beetles to four World Series appearances with championships in 1975 and 1979.
Yakima also will host the Firecracker Tournament July 9-12.
The Hanford Flames rejoin the league after not fielding a Senior Legion program last year. Their Junior Legion team defeated the Yakima Valley Peppers, the Pak’s farm team, for the state championship.