YAKIMA — Just like last year, Cashmere and Chimacum are meeting on the final day of the baseball season.

Only this time — on Saturday afternoon — they’ll be playing for a state title.

On Friday, the Bulldogs advanced to the championship with a 4-2 victory over defending state champion Naches Valley, handing Rangers hurler Cody Johns his first loss of the season in the process.

Cooper Elliott hit a two-run homer off Johns in the fourth inning to break a scoreless tie.

“Elliott came up big for us,” Cashmere coach Jeff Carlson said. “Everyone was really relaxed after Cooper hit the home run. Once he hit it, it was like a big sigh of relief.”

Elliott drove in another run in the sixth, singling up the middle to knock in Luke Dilly, who had tripled ahead of Elliott. The Bulldogs made it 4-0 in the top of the seventh on a leadoff double by Alex Chipman and a two-out double by Spencer Lee. As it turned out, those insurance runs came in handy in the bottom of the inning.

Nick Tarver, who had limited the Rangers to five hits and shut them out through the first six innings, suddenly ran into trouble in the seventh. He hit two of four batters he faced in the seventh, and also gave up a hit before leaving with the bases loaded and one out.

“Things got a little dicey in the seventh,” Carlson said.

Dilly gave up a hit and a walk in relief, but was able to get the final two outs, including striking out Naches Valley’s cleanup hitter with the bases loaded to end the game.

The Bulldogs will meet Chimacum — 6-4 winners over Meridian in the other semifinal — at 4 p.m. in Saturday’s championship game at Yakima County Stadium.

“Our guys are fired up about it,” Carlson said. “It’s the game we’ve been wanting to play in all year. Last year we weren’t real excited to play in the 10 a.m. (third-place) game.”

Carlson said he expects his team to stay relaxed, despite the enormity of Saturday’s game.

“All the kids are playing whiffle ball in the park right now,” Carlson said less than an hour after the completion of Friday’s semifinal game. “There’s a serious game going on, so they’re not uptight.

“I just think the fact that we were here last year, we’re carrying ourselves like a veteran group.”

Corey Voegele; 661-5223

cvoegele@wenatcheeworld.com