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Newberg's Hodges to go up against the best
Hyde pitches his way out of trouble
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Chehalem Valley can't get past Southeast Portland |
The Babe Ruth team falls Monday at the state
tournament |
By B. Scott Anderson, Newberg
Graphic sports editor
E-mail Scott at banderson@eaglenewspapers.com
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ASTORIA — One costly
inning proved too much for the Chehalem Valley Babe Ruth 15-year-old
All-Star team to overcome Monday.
With a 5-2 lead in the fourth inning, Chehalem Valley watched
Southeast Portland score seven runs on two hits and three Chehalem
Valley errors to turn the momentum. Southeast Portland scored three
more times in the seventh inning to eliminate Chehalem Valley from
the 2004 North Oregon State Tournament, 12-5.
“We should have beaten Southeast,” said Vance Lewelling, Chehalem
Valley coach. “We knew that we could beat the team we played today,
but that obviously didn’t happen.”
Chehalem Valley took a 5-0 lead after the first inning. Sam Dodge
drilled a ground-rule RBI double to left field before Chris Wright
hammered an RBI double of his own. Matt Twenge knocked in a run with
a single to right field. Following a Southeast Portland error, two
more runs scored and Chehalem Valley found itself ahead 5-0.
But Southeast Portland battled back. It notched a run each in the
second and third innings before the pivotal fifth inning. Meanwhile,
the Chehalem Valley offense was handcuffed, thanks to Southeast
Portland left-hander Scott Burris. At one point, he calmly struck
out seven batters in a row. Later in the game, he struck out the
side in four consecutive innings.
“He was unhittable,” Lewelling said of Burris. “He was in the zone.
He took the winds right out of our sale.”
Chehalem Valley came into the game as the No. 2 seed from pool
play. On Friday, Chehalem Valley saw Seaside take a 14-0 lead in the
second inning before it roared back to win 24-18 in a
three-and-a-half-hour contest.
Lewelling said key to the comeback was the team believed it could
do it.
“I think they took (Seaside) a little too lightly to start with and
then they decided to start playing ball and all of the sudden, they
just picked themselves up,” Lewelling said. “Really, it wasn’t so
much the hits, but it was more of the baserunning that did it. That
game was all mental. The kids just did a wonderful job of getting
back into the game.”
Chehalem Valley, which had beaten Seaside 18-6 the week prior to
the tournament, brought the game within 16-8 in the third inning
before eventually claiming the win.
“We felt like were back in it,” said assistant coach Mike Twenge
after the third inning. “We got into their bullpen and got their ace
out of there and the next thing you know, (Lewelling) has them
running the bases. (Lewelling) has done a really good job of
teaching them really aggressive baseball and that’s their strength.”
On Saturday, Chehalem Valley defeated LaGrande 12-11. Chehalem
Valley led 12-8 going into the bottom of the seventh inning. After
LaGrande scored a run early, starting pitch Matt Twenge gave up a
two-run home run that cut Chehalem Valley’s lead to 12-11 with one
out. But Twenge came back and struck out the next two batters to end
the game.
On Sunday, Chehalem Valley suffered its first loss, a 5-2 defeat at
the hands of Pendleton.
“That was a hard-fought game on both sides,” Lewelling said. “The
game was a lot closer than what the score indicates. They took
advantage of our errors and take that out of it, it’s a whole new
ball game.”
Chehalem Valley scored the first two runs of the game but couldn’t
score again.
“They were very beatable,” Lewelling said of Pendleton.
Lewelling said he thought Chehalem Valley was capable of a better
performance at the tournament.
“We knew we could compete,” he said. “We thought we had a chance
and I thought everybody had a legitimate chance to win. After seeing
every team, I didn’t see any real powerhouses; I didn’t see any team
being heads and shoulders above us.”
Lewelling said Chehalem Valley turned some heads at the tournament.
“I’ve had the tournament director come up to me and tell us how
well we represented ourselves and that’s a key to the program,” he
said. “I think we surprised some teams. ... I thought we walked away
with most teams respecting what Newberg has to offer.”
Notes: Chehalem Valley’s pitching squad was led by Dodge, Twenge,
Jay Miller and Phillip Church. At the plate, Chris Wright averaged
.486, including a 10-for-20 performance at the state tournament. Sam
Dodge batted .367 with three doubles and a triple wihle Twenge led
the team with 14 RBI while he batted .348. Nick Reynolds had a .344
batting average for Chehalem Valley. Right fielder Jarel Mauser
batted .267 while Chris Miller batted .300.
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From
July 28,
2004, Newberg Graphic
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