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Newberg drops first game of tourney
Pair of losses ends CV's season
Astoria too much for Chehalem Valley
| Royals
denied from playoffs |
The baseball team suffers an 11-5 home loss to Southridge Thursday and
can't make the playoffs |
By B. Scott Anderson, Newberg
Graphic sports editor
E-mail Scott at banderson@eaglenewspapers.com
|
What looked like would be an easy win for the Newberg Royals, a
13/14-year-old baseball team, turned into a disappointing loss Thursday.
After Newberg’s Tanner Hodges hit a two-RBI triple to give the Royals
(11-8 in league play) a 4-1 lead over visiting Southridge, the Skyhawks took advantage of
three Newberg defensive errors and two walks to score five runs in the inning. What seemed
like a comfortable lead all fell apart in the inning for the Royals.
“You’ve think you’ve got all the momentum in the world but we
didn’t take care of business and didn’t play sound baseball,” said Royals
coach Steve Hodges. “I told the kids after the game that if you look at the
giveaways, which are errors and walks, we had 15. That was kind of the microcosm of the
game.”
Southridge took an early 1-0 lead after the first inning. Then in the
third inning, Newberg’s offense finally came to life. Zach Johnson took the first
pitch of the inning to left field for a single. Then with two outs, a grounder to third
base looked to be the end of the inning for the Royals but a throw from third bounced off
Burrows helmet, which allowed him to safely take first base. With Johnson safely at third,
Tanner Hodges delivered an RBI single to right field for Newberg’s first score.
Austin Dahl then smacked an RBI double to left field to put the Royals up 2-1.
Offensively for the Royals, Dahl recorded two hits and an RBI while Johnson
also collected a pair of hits. Hodges went 3-for-3 with three RBI. Newberg recorded nine
hits in the game.
On Tuesday, the Royals suffered a narrow 4-3 loss at Sherwood. Newberg
tallied five hits in the game but found itself with a 3-1 lead after the fifth inning. The
Bowmen notched two runs in the sixth and produced the game-winning run in the seventh.
The two games were critical for the Royals to make the playoffs. Southridge,
Newberg and Sherwood came into the week in third, fourth and fifth place respectively. But
since Newberg dropped both games and only the three top teams qualify for the playoffs,
the Royals were eliminated from the playoff contention.
The Royals finish out their season next week with a 6 p.m. home game Monday
against Reedville, a 6 p.m. road game at McMinnville Tuesday and a 6 p.m. home game
against Westview Thursday. |
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From July 17,
2004, Newberg Graphic
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