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Open Bible sued for $3 million
Water polo team picks up wins in California
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Newberg ousted from state |
Newberg is eliminated from the state tournament
Saturday win an 8-6 loss to Oregon City |
By B. Scott Anderson, Newberg
Graphic sports editor
E-mail Scott at banderson@eaglenewspapers.com
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HILLSBORO — Jeff Danielson still isn’t sure
what went wrong.
At the Junior Baseball of Oregon Junior Federal State Tournament,
his baseball team was eliminated from its shot at a state
championship Saturday when it suffered an 8-6 loss to Oregon City.
Maybe it
was the team’s defense that failed in the final game, maybe not.
Danielson just wasn’t sure.
“I don’t know,” he said, sighing. “We just didn’t play defensively
like we normally do. The other team was maybe hitting the ball
harder ... I don’t know. Maybe it was also a combination of kids not
being in normal positions that they would be in because of
injuries.”
The Junior Tigers entered the game vs Oregon City off a
come-from-behind 5-4 win over Lebanon a day earlier. The Junior
Tigers fell behind 4-1 after Ruben Pena’s RBI single to right field
in the second. The Junior Tigers closed the gap to 4-3 in the fourth
inning when Peter Russo hit a two-RBI double to center field.
The team was on the brink of elimination until a key fifth inning.
Brady Vernon hit an RBI single to left that bounced off the wall to
tie the game at 4-4. Jacob Storedahl and Darnell Adams were both
walked to load the bases with one out before a key play by Vernon
gave the Tigers the go-ahead run. Newberg’s Cody Danielson hit a pop
fly in foul territory next to first base. An alert Vernon tagged up
and sprinted home to beat the throw and give the Tigers the run.
“Not many kids would be ready to do that,” Danielson said of
Vernon’s play. “I was telling him to tag up, but he was already
there. There was no coaching necessary for that, it was just a
top-notch play.”
Storedahl came in to pitch the final inning to replace Danielson.
Storedahl struck out three and walked one in the sixth to earn the
win. Danielson recorded nine strikeouts and gave up one hit and
seven walks.
As a team, Newberg collected three errors and seven hits.
“It was a tough game,” Danielson said. “The kids just battled like
they always do. They never gave up and I’m awfully proud of them.
They’ve won a lot of one-run games this year and we kind of figured
once we caught up to them, we’d beat them.”
Danielson said he knew the game would be tough, especially since
John Mauleon, a player who pitched a perfect game for the team
earlier this season, was injured and unable to compete.
“Being shorthanded, we knew all the games were going to be tough,”
Danielson said. “(The game against Lebanon) was tougher than I
thought it was going to be. Missing (Mauleon), either on the mound
or out in the field, it effects our team quite a bit, both
offensively and defensively.”
With the win over Lebanon, the Junior Tigers moved on Saturday to
take on Oregon City. Cody Danielson hit an RBI double in the first,
just narrowly missing a home run, that gave Newberg a 1-0 lead.
Oregon City rebounded to score four runs in the second inning.
“We kind of got in a hole,” Danielson said.
Newberg battled its way out of the hole and took a 5-4 lead in the
top of the fifth. Oregon City matched Newberg in the bottom half of
the inning and scored four runs and walked away with the victory.
With the state tournament completed, Newberg will rest a bit until
it travels to Cooperstown, N.Y., Aug. 18-25 to compete in a 96-team
tournament with a guaranteed minimum of eight games. Last year, the
team finished with a 4-5 record.
Five new players will go on the trip this year, Danielson said. But
before the team heads East, it will pick up a few games to stay in
tune. Gresham and Prairie, two teams that also competed in the state
tournament during the weekend, will also compete in New York.
Prairie will be there Aug. 11-18; Gresham from Aug. 25 through Sept.
1. But before Newberg heads to New York, Danielson said the
team will try to pick up a couple of games, hopefully against
Gresham and Prairie.
The trip, which costs approximately $1,000 per child, was funded
through a couple of sources. The team used the money it had
remaining from last season. It also hosted a golf tournament at
Chehalem Glenn Golf Course in March. Players also sold flower
baskets and the team hosted its own tournament July 8-9. |
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From
Aug. 2,
2004, Newberg Graphic
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