Playing against all-star squads finally caught up to the Buckley Riverdogs, who saw their season come to an end during the Pony League Regional Tournament Thursday through Sunday in Kirkland.

The Riverdogs, who finished 35-5 for the season behind the triple tutelage of Lance Hendrix, Mike Williams and Rob “Big Dog” Grau, started the tournament Thursday by nearly toppling the Burien Giants, a squad that had handed the Riverdogs two defeats earlier in the year.

Despite pitcher Tim Williams throwing a complete game with eight strikeouts, the Riverdogs couldn’t string their half dozen hits together at the right time and ended up losing 4-3.

The Riverdogs swiftly recovered from the heartbreaker and got their offense untracked Friday against the SBA All-Stars from Lake Sammamish. The Riverdogs sent the SBA All-Stars packing 16-3, getting stalwart mound performances out of Garrett Robertson, Ryan Anderson and Garrett Grau, who shut down the high-scoring crew from Lake Sammamish.

The Riverdogs’ fortunes were reversed Saturday, as the Northwest Stickmen, a select team out of Bellingham, crushed the Riverdogs’ aspirations to move on to Sunday’s finals, by clobbering the Buckley squad 14-3 and bringing the Riverdogs’ season to a close.

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