CENTRAL DELIVERS SURPRISE KNOCKOUT
The Lower Columbia Cal Ripken 12-year-old All-stars were built around a deep pitching staff with two strong aces and a solid defensive unit. Their inconsistency at the plate proved costly on Saturday as the top-seeded locals were upset by 4th-seeded Central 3-2 in a quarterfinal elimination game at the North Oregon State Tournament in Dallas.
The loss brings a premature end to the season for L.C., which may not have been favored to win the tournament, but were at least expected to reach the final day of play in a season where the regional tournament would be just an hour up the road in Longview.
Earlier in the day, Lower Columbia hammered Newberg 17-7 in five innings to complete pool play undefeated. With 30 runs scored in three games, not much life was left in the bats come Saturday afternoon.
Facing a Central pitcher that didn't throw particular hard but consistently was around the outside corner of the plate, the Clatsop-Pacific county locals appeared baffled at times, taking pitches right down the middle, then swinging at balls well outside. Some mental errors and missed signs when they did get runners on base did not help the cause.
Lower Columbia had five hits in the game and was able to load the bases with nobody out in both the third and fifth innings, but came away with nothing for their efforts as they finished four of the six innings of the contest with at least two strikeouts.
Meanwhile, Central played well and got clutch hits when they needed them, building a 3-0 lead which they never relinquished.
"We just didn't come to play," lamented head coach Mike Garcia. "It was an unfortunate way to end the season. A lot of tears were shed after this and hopefully we learned from it. Nobody really stepped up when we needed it in this game. We just didn't play."
The loss brings a premature end to the season for L.C., which may not have been favored to win the tournament, but were at least expected to reach the final day of play in a season where the regional tournament would be just an hour up the road in Longview.
Earlier in the day, Lower Columbia hammered Newberg 17-7 in five innings to complete pool play undefeated. With 30 runs scored in three games, not much life was left in the bats come Saturday afternoon.
Facing a Central pitcher that didn't throw particular hard but consistently was around the outside corner of the plate, the Clatsop-Pacific county locals appeared baffled at times, taking pitches right down the middle, then swinging at balls well outside. Some mental errors and missed signs when they did get runners on base did not help the cause.
Lower Columbia had five hits in the game and was able to load the bases with nobody out in both the third and fifth innings, but came away with nothing for their efforts as they finished four of the six innings of the contest with at least two strikeouts.
Meanwhile, Central played well and got clutch hits when they needed them, building a 3-0 lead which they never relinquished.
"We just didn't come to play," lamented head coach Mike Garcia. "It was an unfortunate way to end the season. A lot of tears were shed after this and hopefully we learned from it. Nobody really stepped up when we needed it in this game. We just didn't play."
posted by Matt Richert at 6:09 PM
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