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| North Coos shortstop Andrew Slack is late on a tag against a Roseburg runner during a July 11 doubleheader at Clyde Allen Field. World Photo by Lou Sennick. |
American Legion tournament starts Friday
Thursday, July 31, 2008 11:09 AM PDT
The high school baseball season ended two months ago, but many of the teams that made deep runs into the playoffs still will be represented this week at the American Legion Class A state tournament at Clyde Allen Field.
The eight-team double-elimination event begins Friday and runs through Tuesday, when a champion will be crowned, earning a berth in the regional tournament.
The Legion A tournament is for players 18 years old and younger. The AAA tournament, which starts next week, includes players up to 19 years old. Because many of the teams in this tournament are affiliated with AAA teams, some of the top players who might be competing this week are instead on the AAA clubs. But that doesn’t mean there won’t be plenty of talent on the field at the North Bend park.
The tournament kicks off at 9 a.m. Friday, when the Pendleton Merchants meet the Grants Pass Miners. The second game, at noon, features the Roseburg Pepsi Bottlecaps and the Ashland Pilots, the defending state champions. Jake’s Crawfish, one of two Portland teams, meets North Medford at 3 p.m. The host North Coos Waterfront battles the Willoughby Sonics at 6 p.m.
The quality of the programs represented this week can be found by looking at the brackets from this year’s state baseball playoffs.
Ashland won the Class 5A title, though two of the team’s top players, twins Lewis Sebrell and Charlie Sebrell, are playing for the AAA Medford Mustangs this summer.
North Medford was the Class 6A champion in 2007 and reached the semifinals this year. Roseburg and Wilson, the high school team of Jake’s Crawfish, both reached the Class 6A quarterfinals, while Franklin, the team for the Willoughby Sonics, also reached the Class 6A tournament.
Pendleton reached the Class 5A semifinals, while North Bend, which provides several of the players for host North Coos, was in the Class 4A semifinals. Hidden Valley, the primary school for the Grants Pass Miners, was ranked near the top of the Class 4A coaches poll all year before losing in the second round of the playoffs.
The early favorites for this week’s tournament, according to the coaches, are Ashland and North Medford.
“I think Ashland’s pretty darn good and North Medford’s really good,” said North Coos coach Brad Horning. “Both of those teams played good high school seasons and good legion seasons last summer.”
“Ashland’s going to have to be the favorite,” said North Medford coach Brett Wolfe. “They’re coming off the state title. They’re six or seven deep pitching wise, and they hit for power. They’re going to be tough to beat.”
North Medford edged Ashland by one game for the title in the Area 4 South Division and has played the second-most games of any team in the tournament, going 36-14. But the Mavericks suffered a huge loss when team leader Cody James was injured in the regular season finale after hitting nearly .600 with almost 60 RBIs, 18 doubles and six triples during the season.
Ashland coach Royce Miller still is wary of the Mavericks.
“They’re all we can handle,” he said, adding that his team was lucky to split its four games with North Medford.
Roseburg Pepsi beat North Medford to take the top seed for Area 4, and Roseburg coach Richie Charles said the Mavericks will be a tough out in the tournament.
“On a bad day, they’re a fantastic team,” he said, adding that winning the seeding game was a big boost for his club. “To go down to Medford and get a win is always extra special.”
Both Miller and Wolfe also said that Grants Pass is a fundamentally sound team that could challenge for the title this week.
“They’ve got one or two pitchers who can beat anybody on any given day, and they can hit for power, too,” Wolfe said.
And several coaches are concerned about North Coos, which plays with a potentially strong home-field advantage, being familiar with the often tricky winds.
“We know the host team is very good,” Charles said.
Roseburg Pepsi took three out of four games against North Coos, winning twice by one run at Roseburg and splitting their doubleheader at Clyde Allen Field. North Coos swept both Ashland and North Medford at Clyde Allen Field, but lost both games of doubleheaders when visiting each of those teams.
Horning hopes that area fans take advantage of the opportunity to see a high level of baseball over several days.
“You get a pretty good representation of the state with Pendleton and a couple of teams out of Portland,” he said. “I’m looking forward to seeing how many people we can get in the stands for some of these games. It’s a great place to watch a game, get a burger and see a lot of these teams play.”
Here is a closer look at the teams in the tournament this week.
North Coos Waterfront
The team returns to the state tournament after qualifying last year by winning the Area 4 North Division. The Waterfront won one game at last year’s tournament, held at Sunset High School, and that experience can prove invaluable this week, Horning said.
“It’s definitely a plus having been there and seeing how the tournament goes and playing three days in a row last year,” he said.
Several players return from that team, including the top pitcher, Bryce Weidman, and No. 2 starter Jesse McClintock.
The Waterfront was unbeatable at home most of the season before a slump in mid July, but bounced back with five straight wins to close the year. The team’s focus wasn’t always on winning, though, with a spot in the tournament guaranteed, and Weidman wasn’t available to pitch a lot of the time because he also was playing with Three Rivers, the team’s sister club at the AAA level.
“I think we were very conservative on our pitch counts on guys and not pitching them on short rest knowing we already had a slot in the tournament,” Horning said.
North Coos is represented by a broader range of high schools than any other program in the tournament, with players from North Bend, Marshfield, Coquille, Myrtle Point and Powers. Of those schools, only North Bend made the playoffs this year, but the Bulldogs had a 22-game winning streak before losing to Newport in the semifinals.
Weidman, shortstop Andrew Slack, catcher Dalton Iveans and outfielder Skyler Walton all were key contributors to the North Bend team. McClintock was probably Marshfield’s top player, while several other starters for the Pirates play for North Coos. Jake Stevens of Powers was Myrtle Point’s best player, while Heston Altenbach led Coquille’s club.
Weidman and McClintock give the team two solid starters, and Stevens could fit in the No. 3 slot. Ryan Campbell, Geoff Van Pulliam and Elliott Aurdahl of Marshfield, as well as Myrtle Point’s Kyle Davis also have made multiple appearances for the team this summer.
Horning said the team’s focus this week has been on the little things that can make a difference between a win and a loss in a close game.
“We’ve worked on making routine plays and hitting the cut-off man and playing the game well and being in a spot to win it,” he said.
Ashland Pilots
Miller would love to see how good Ashland would be with the Sebrell twins, but he’s still got plenty of talent this week, led by Garrett Tygerson. The team’s top pitcher, with a 7-0 record, Tygerson also has eight home runs batting in the clean-up hole. Ian Kendall, batting before Tygerson in the lineup, also has eight home runs and is the team’s No. 2 pitcher. Shortstop Nick Hall is the team’s sparkplug with great defense and an ability to hit so well that he almost never sacrifices even batting in the No. 2 hole, Miller said. Leadoff hitter Hayden Miller, who plays all over the infield, batted over .500 during the season.
“Wherever we need this guy, he goes,” Miller said. “He’s done a fantastic job for us getting on base.”
Pitcher Luke Stone is the only other returner from last year’s team, but the new players have exceeded expectations.
“We have a really young team,” Miller said. “We were really concerned about the inexperience of the team. One of the things motivating the boys, they came in with lower expectations — at least the coaches did — and you see them daily trying to strive ahead and match what last year’s team did. We’ve exceeded that team in terms of wins.”
The Pilots enter the tournament with a 29-8 record overall, the fewest losses of any squad in the field.
North Medford Mavericks
The loss of James was a huge damper for the Mavericks, but the squad has plenty of other good players and a deep pitching staff. Mark Cokenour is 7-0 with a 1.89 earned run average, while Bradey Shipley (8-1) and Hayden Wolfe (6-2) each have ERAs of 2.50 or better.
Wolfe, the coach’s son, bats .459 out of the leadoff spot. He’s one of three players returning from last year’s team, along with utility infielder Chris Bradshaw and No. 4 hitter Stephen Cole, a first baseman who is returning from a bout of mononucleosis.
“We had a good year,” Brett Wolfe said. “A lot of young players have stepped up and we played real well. Cody James was one of the kids who made us go. We’ve had to make adjustments and we’ve been able to do that.”
The Mavericks often seem to be in the mix at the state tournament. Both Hayden Wolfe and Bradshaw were on the state champion team two years ago, with Wolfe the starting right fielder.
Roseburg Pepsi Bottlecaps
Many of the players on the Roseburg club were on the high school’s junior varsity team, but they have had a standout summer, Charles said.
“The kids responded well,” he said. “We had a little lull in the middle of the season. We had to battle a good league and good teams. They did for the most part.”
One of the team’s clear leaders has been Vince Ampi, who does most of the work behind the plate when he’s not pitching. Ampi hit .470 for the season, with 12 doubles and four triples. Cameron Newell batted .475 with nine doubles, while fellow outfielder Micah Audiss also hit over .400 and had seven doubles.
Both Chris Case and Ampi were unbeaten on the mound, while Josh Davis and Tyler Bullock had three saves each.
Charles is eager to see how the players respond to the playoffs.
“We think it’s going to be a great opportunity for the kids,” he said. “A lot of these kids have never been in a playoff atmosphere or a state tournament. We’re looking forward to it.”
Grants Pass Miners
The Miners have had a strong season, despite several of Hidden Valley’s top players being pulled up to the AAA Grants Pass Nuggets.
“I think we’ve exceeded every expectation,” coach Travis Osborne said. “We’re really, really young.”
The Miners won 12 straight during one stretch in the season to reach the playoffs, and then rallied from a six-run deficit in their 13-11 win over Roseburg Horizon to reach the tournament.
“They’re pretty resilient,” Osborne said.
Mike Suthann and Taylor Barrs have been the team’s top pitchers, while Dylan Armanino, Seth Damatti and Logan Werner have led the team at the plate.
Pendleton Merchants
The Merchants have several players back from last year’s team that reached the state tournament, though unlike some of the other clubs, they don’t have any players who graduated from high school this spring.
“We’re a pretty young team,” coach Travis Zander said.
The Merchants won a pair of extra-inning elimination games against The Dalles in the Area 1 playoffs to reach the state tournament. Now Zander hopes his team can enjoy a rare trip to the coast and a return to the tournament.
“We’re excited to be part of it again,” he said. “Last year, we were in games and just gave up quite a few unearned runs. It will be a good experience for our team.”
The Merchants’ leading pitchers have been Isaac Henslee, James Caldwell and Dillon Wallace, while Jeff Eickstaedt, Dannon Baker, Wyatt Whitten and Kolby Haliewicz have led the club at the plate.
Jake’s Crawfish
Though Wilson High School won the Class 6A state title in 2006 and advanced to the playoffs again the past two years, Jake’s Crawfish is in the state American Legion tournament for the first time.
The team won eight of its last nine games to reach the tournament, and had a busy summer with 55 games, winning 32.
Peter Valentine won seven games on the mound for the Merchants and also batted a team-high .471 for the season, scoring 58 runs and driving in 40 more. He had 15 doubles and stole 26 bases. He struck out 81 batters in 61 innings in his nine starts and posted a team-leading 2.40 ERA.
Mason Montgomery also won seven games, while Micah Holmes had six wins. Blake Gregg drove in 44 runs. Spenser McNett had 22 RBIs and 20 runs while hitting .431 in the team’s last 28 games. Sean Flores was second on the team with 43 runs and stole 13 bases.
Willoughby Sonics
The Sonics built off a successful spring season for Franklin High School, which made a rare trip to the playoffs.
“That was a big deal,” coach Robbie Trebelhorn said.
Though the club went just 11-24 on the season, most of the losses came to teams at the AAA level, including Clackamas, Jesuit and West Linn.
“They’re considerably better than us, but the only way we’re going to get better is by playing better competition,” Trebelhorn said.
The team’s top hitters have been Chris Schultz, Anthony Lopez and Matt Bushek, who also was the team’s top pitcher.
“We play pretty competitive,” Trebelhorn said. |
