CVC Baseball, Softball Seasons end suddenly in state 6A playoffs

Sprague, McNary fall in baseball, South Salem in softball quarterfinals

Spring sports post-season play is always a difficult place to wrap up the season.

Just ask the Sprague Olympian and McNary Celtic baseball teams, and the South Salem softball squad.  All three fell in the quarterfinals of their respective 6A playoffs on Friday, just weeks before the school year comes to an end.

Sprague faced a daunting task in playing on Jesuit’s home field.  The second-seeded Crusaders had “ten-runned” their first two playoff opponents—Willamette of Eugene (11-1) and Wells of Portland (14-3).

Early, things looked promising.  The Central Valley Conference player of the year—Sprague’s Brandon Stinnett—faced off against Jesuit’s highly regarded pitcher—lanky senior Noble Meyer.

After taking a first strike, Stinnett reset himself in the box, and drilled the 0-1 pitch deep into right center field—clearing the fence for the early 1-0 for the Olympians. It was his fifth round-tripper of the 2023 season.

But sadly, it was the first and last hit or run that Sprague would record for the game.

The bottom of the first inning was an emotional microcosm of the remainder of the game.

Jesuit drew a lead-off walk to begin its at-bat. A bunt by third baseman Levi Jones was fielded near the bag at first by the Oly’s Brady Muth.  Muth hesitated for a second, then threw very late to second base to try and pick off the leadoff runner.  It arrived late—the decision to make the throw was scored as an error—and Jesuit had two runners on with nobody out.

After another walk was issued by starting pitcher Grant Strother—Sprague got a small break when Meyer, the clean-up hitter, went down on strikes.   That left the Crusaders with the bases loaded and just one out.

Enter designated hitter Ty Alleman for Jesuit.  After running the count to one and one, Alleman took the next pitch deep into right center field, scoring two runs.  The next Crusader popped out to the catcher, but a wild pitch brought home Jesuit shortstop Ryan Crosby.  When the dust had settled, the host Crusaders had a 3-1 lead.

Crusaders pitcher Noble Meyer struck out ten and walked just two in his teams’ 11-1 over Sprague on Friday in the 6A Baseball Quarterfinals.

It was all the offensive support Noble Meyer would need the rest of the game.  Aside from a pair of walks given up during the game, the highly-recruited Meyer recorded ten strikeouts for the game.  Sprague never had a runner advance farther than second base. And the three to one lead continued to grow steadily for Jesuit.

The home team was shut out offensively in just one inning—recording runs in all the remaining frames, including a huge four runs in the fourth.

When Jesuit pinch-runner Dustin Doherty came around to score on a double by Alleman in the sixth, the game was over—as the Crusaders had recorded their 11^th run, good for the 11-1 victory over Sprague.

Olympian players were disappointed, but admitted that Jesuit was just that good.  Even the always determined Brandon Stinnett admitted that Noble Meyer was a dominant force on the mound. 

“Yeah, he was tough,” Stinnett said with small smile on his face.  Stinnett is already looking forward to summer ball, with plans to play American Legion baseball again.

The Olympians’ season ended with an overall record of 23 wins, 7 losses.

Jesuit (25-5) had 11 hits in the victory, including a late home run by Crosby.

There will be one more baseball contest at Jesuit next Tuesday, when the Crusaders entertain North Medford.  The Black Tornado advanced to the semifinal round after winning at home against Southwest Conference rival Roseburg, 3-1.

West Linn 4, McNary 1:  The upset-minded Celtics were all out of magic in their quarterfinal game at defending champion West Linn—the top-seeded team in the tournament.

The Lions’ Blake Crawford pitched six strong innings, and was relieved by Gabe Howard. Sophomore Jordan Araiza recorded the only Celtic run with a late homer.

McNary’s Jordan Araiza (3) had his teams’ only score with a late solo HR. PHOTO COURTESY of Keizertimes Archives.

McNary ends with their season with a record of 10-17.  But the 6A tournament’s 25^th seed did record upset wins over #8 Lincoln and #9 South Salem along the way.

West Linn (24-6) will host Three Rivers League foe Lake Oswego next Tuesday. The Lakers nipped Mountainside 3-2.

6A Softball

South Medford 2, South Salem 1:  In a game between two of Oregon’s top softball programs, it came down to timely hitting, and South Salem just couldn’t execute in that department late in the contest.

MacKenzie Scott got South Salem on the board first with a leadoff home run.  South Medford responded with runs in the first and second inning respectively.  There would be no scoring the rest of the way. 

South Salem pitcher Rowan Thompson limited South Medford to just one hit in the last 3 innings of the Saxon’s 2-1 quarterfinal loss Friday. (PHOTO from SS Softball Archives)

South Coach Scott McCormick said that the plate umpire “really squeezed” the strike zone on Saxon pitching ace Rowan Thompson, but that she adjusted to limit the Panthers to just one hit after the second inning.

South had some offensive moments, but just couldn’t produce any runs.  Hallie Olson had 2 doubles and Hannah Tapusua recorded 2 hits.  The Saxons actually out hit South Medford 5-4, but stranded seven on base over the last three innings of their quarterfinal game.

For South Salem (21-6) the loss was emotional.  McCormick says “there were lots of tears afterwards.”

Third seeded South Medford (23-6) has to wait to see who and where they will play next Tuesday.  The other quarterfinal game between #7 Southridge and #2 Oregon City is scheduled for Saturday at 4:00 pm.