ASTORIA SLIPS PAST ROSEBURG, ONE WIN FROM SEMIS
The Astoria 14-year-old Babe Ruth All-stars faced their toughest opponent yet, edging hometown favorite Roseburg 6-5 Sunday to improve to 3-0 in pool play at the Pacific N.W. Regional Tournament.
Max Johnson had two doubles and two runs batted in and pitched a tense final inning to record a save, putting Astoria on the verge of its third consecutive regional semifinal appearance.
Astoria has a day off today to prepare for Tuesday's pool finale against Kennewick. A win will put Astoria into the semifinals as the top seed in their pool. A close loss would also send Astoria into the championship round based on tiebreaker criteria.
The last time these teams met was in last year's 13-year-old regional semifinals, with Roseburg ending Astoria's season with a 10-8, 8-inning victory, before falling to Lewiston, Idaho in the championship game. This year, the teams ended up in the same pool and played another dramatic game, potentially a preview of a championship matchup.
With the game tied at four in the bottom of the sixth inning, Marc Gallegos just beat out a 2-out double to right field, scoring Cody Strickland with the go-ahead run. Gallegos later scored what turned out to be a critical insurance run when a pickoff throw went awry.
After Ian Dueber pitched the first six innings, allowing four runs on five hits, Johnson took over on the hill to try and nail down the victory, but ran into trouble right away. A hit batter and a walk put the tying runs on base and a sacrifice bunt put the runners into scoring position. After Johnson uncorked a wild pitch, Roseburg had the tying run 90 feet away with one out. But the Astoria righthander got a huge second out on a pop up to shortstop Ian Erickson and, after hitting another batter, recorded the final out on a fly out to centerfielder Trevor Couch to secure the save.
Couch continued a productive tournament at the plate with a key bunt single in the sixth inning to put Gallegos at third base, setting up the game-winning run. Johnson doubled and scored on a Dueber sacrifice fly in the second inning, when Astoria scored two runs to tie the game at two. After Roseburg took a 4-2 lead with a pair of runs in the fifth inning, Astoria again returned serve, with Johnson doubling in a pair of runs in the bottom of the inning.
Gallegos' two out double in the sixth was his second hit of the game and proved to be controversial. Cody Strickland led off the inning with a base hit and advanced to second on a balk. With two outs, Gallegos took advantage of an outfield shift that saw the center fielder shaded to left field while the right fielder guarded the line. Gallegos dumped a base hit into the open territory in right field and steamed toward second base as the Roseburg rightfielder got on the ball quickly. In a bang-bang play, Gallegos was ruled safe as Strickland crossed the plate with the go-ahead run. The Roseburg manager argued the call and was ejected from the game, meaning he will not be allowed in the dugout today when Roseburg plays Torrington, Wyoming.
Roseburg handed Kennewick its only loss of the tournament on Saturday, winning 8-3. Kennewick opened the tournament with a 10-0 victory over Fraser Valley, B.C., a team Astoria struggled with.
Should Astoria lose to Kennewick on Tuesday and Roseburg wins its final pool games today and tomorrow, the three teams could finish tied with 3-1 records. A runs allowed tiebreaker between the three teams would put Astoria into the championship round if they hold Kennewick to four runs or less or lose by two runs or less. Six different scenarios would have Astoria still earning the top seed even with a close, low-scoring loss. If Kennewick scores at least five runs AND beats Astoria by at least three runs, Astoria would be eliminated. If Kennewick beats Astoria 4-1, the three teams would break the tie using an overall run differential tiebreaker based on the outcomes of all of the pool games.
Central Kitsap (2-0) and defending champion Lewiston, Idaho (2-1), both regional qualifiers last year as 13-year-olds, appear to be the favorites to emerge from the other 5-team pool.
Kennewick (1-1) plays Torrington, WY (0-2) today at 1:00 p.m. and Roseburg (1-1) takes on Fraser Valley (1-2) at 4:00 p.m. If either team loses, Astoria is guaranteed a berth in Wednesday's championship round. The tournament winner will go on to the World Series in North Carolina later this month. No area youth team has ever advanced to a national level tournament.
ROSEBURG 0-2-0-0-2-0-1 5-5-3
ASTORIA 0-2-0-0-2-2-X 6-8-0
WP: Dueber (6ip, 5h, 4er, 4bb, 2k, hp)
LP: Laverne (5+ip, 6h, 5r, 3er)
SV: Johnson (ip, 0h, er, bb, 0k, 2hp)
Max Johnson had two doubles and two runs batted in and pitched a tense final inning to record a save, putting Astoria on the verge of its third consecutive regional semifinal appearance.
Astoria has a day off today to prepare for Tuesday's pool finale against Kennewick. A win will put Astoria into the semifinals as the top seed in their pool. A close loss would also send Astoria into the championship round based on tiebreaker criteria.
The last time these teams met was in last year's 13-year-old regional semifinals, with Roseburg ending Astoria's season with a 10-8, 8-inning victory, before falling to Lewiston, Idaho in the championship game. This year, the teams ended up in the same pool and played another dramatic game, potentially a preview of a championship matchup.
With the game tied at four in the bottom of the sixth inning, Marc Gallegos just beat out a 2-out double to right field, scoring Cody Strickland with the go-ahead run. Gallegos later scored what turned out to be a critical insurance run when a pickoff throw went awry.
After Ian Dueber pitched the first six innings, allowing four runs on five hits, Johnson took over on the hill to try and nail down the victory, but ran into trouble right away. A hit batter and a walk put the tying runs on base and a sacrifice bunt put the runners into scoring position. After Johnson uncorked a wild pitch, Roseburg had the tying run 90 feet away with one out. But the Astoria righthander got a huge second out on a pop up to shortstop Ian Erickson and, after hitting another batter, recorded the final out on a fly out to centerfielder Trevor Couch to secure the save.
Couch continued a productive tournament at the plate with a key bunt single in the sixth inning to put Gallegos at third base, setting up the game-winning run. Johnson doubled and scored on a Dueber sacrifice fly in the second inning, when Astoria scored two runs to tie the game at two. After Roseburg took a 4-2 lead with a pair of runs in the fifth inning, Astoria again returned serve, with Johnson doubling in a pair of runs in the bottom of the inning.
Gallegos' two out double in the sixth was his second hit of the game and proved to be controversial. Cody Strickland led off the inning with a base hit and advanced to second on a balk. With two outs, Gallegos took advantage of an outfield shift that saw the center fielder shaded to left field while the right fielder guarded the line. Gallegos dumped a base hit into the open territory in right field and steamed toward second base as the Roseburg rightfielder got on the ball quickly. In a bang-bang play, Gallegos was ruled safe as Strickland crossed the plate with the go-ahead run. The Roseburg manager argued the call and was ejected from the game, meaning he will not be allowed in the dugout today when Roseburg plays Torrington, Wyoming.
Roseburg handed Kennewick its only loss of the tournament on Saturday, winning 8-3. Kennewick opened the tournament with a 10-0 victory over Fraser Valley, B.C., a team Astoria struggled with.
Should Astoria lose to Kennewick on Tuesday and Roseburg wins its final pool games today and tomorrow, the three teams could finish tied with 3-1 records. A runs allowed tiebreaker between the three teams would put Astoria into the championship round if they hold Kennewick to four runs or less or lose by two runs or less. Six different scenarios would have Astoria still earning the top seed even with a close, low-scoring loss. If Kennewick scores at least five runs AND beats Astoria by at least three runs, Astoria would be eliminated. If Kennewick beats Astoria 4-1, the three teams would break the tie using an overall run differential tiebreaker based on the outcomes of all of the pool games.
Central Kitsap (2-0) and defending champion Lewiston, Idaho (2-1), both regional qualifiers last year as 13-year-olds, appear to be the favorites to emerge from the other 5-team pool.
Kennewick (1-1) plays Torrington, WY (0-2) today at 1:00 p.m. and Roseburg (1-1) takes on Fraser Valley (1-2) at 4:00 p.m. If either team loses, Astoria is guaranteed a berth in Wednesday's championship round. The tournament winner will go on to the World Series in North Carolina later this month. No area youth team has ever advanced to a national level tournament.
ROSEBURG 0-2-0-0-2-0-1 5-5-3
ASTORIA 0-2-0-0-2-2-X 6-8-0
WP: Dueber (6ip, 5h, 4er, 4bb, 2k, hp)
LP: Laverne (5+ip, 6h, 5r, 3er)
SV: Johnson (ip, 0h, er, bb, 0k, 2hp)
posted by Matt Richert at 9:14 AM
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