Astoria 10-year-olds Place 4th At North Oregon Tournament, 7/13
Matt Richert Reporting
The Astoria 10-year-old Cal Ripken All-Stars reached the semifinals of the North Oregon State Tournament this weekend at the La Creole Complex in Dallas.
After going 2-1 in pool play, Astoria thumped the Dallas B team 14-4 in a four inning mercy rule game. Warrenton's Manny Nelson went 4-for-4 at the plate, while Knappa native Carter Wallace struck out five batters and allowed three hits and one run over three innings for the win.
That put Lower Columbia into a semifinal matchup against Sandy. With the teams tied at 2-2 entering the second inning, things went awry.
"We were a way better team," said head coach Dave Wallace after Sandy scored eight runs in the second inning and held on for a 10-7 win. "We beat ourselves in that first and second inning. Walks killed us.
Nelson got the start on the mound and got out of the first inning without major damage and recorded the first two outs in the second inning before his control wavered.
"I didn’t get the man out of there fast enough," said Wallace. "I didn’t get him out of there soon enough. I have a lot of confidence in that boy’s pitching."
Despite the struggles on the mound, Nelson continued to thump at the plate with three more hits in four at bats. Trent Cope continued a great hitting tournament with a 3-for-4 game and Derek Jarrett had a pair of hits.
"Every time Jarrett got a hit, he got RBI's," said Wallace, whose team reached the semifinals of four different tournaments this summer. "He came up with runners on in the third and knocked in a run. He doubled in the fourth inning and scored two runs. He was the most improved kid on the team by far."
The tournament ended with a 10-5, seven ining loss to Central in the consolation game. Nelson finished the tournament by going 10-for-12 at the plate in the last three games, adding three more hits against the Monmouth-Independence based Central team.
The teams traded the lead several times throughout the game. After a scoreless sixth inning, Central scored five runs in the top of the seventh to pull away for the win.
In pool play, Lower Columbia defeated Dallas A 11-1 in five innings. Kai Brown pitched a complete game with six strikeouts and Cope went 3-for-3 at the plate.
Lower Columbia edged Newberg 7-6 in dramatic fashion. With the potential tying run at third base and one out in the sixth inning, Newberg bunted the ball on a safety squeeze. Lower Columbia pitcher Carter Wallace threw out the batter at first and Taylor Delay fired the ball home to catcher Noah Kinney to nail the Newberg runner trying to score with the game-ending out.
Wallace led Lower Columbia at the the plate in the win, going 3-for-3 with a 3-run home run.
West Linn's A team cruised to the state title, blowing out Lower Columbia 14-2 in their pool matchup Saturday morning after starting the game with ten consecutive base hits off Brown, who recovered from the early 9-run onslaught to allow only five runs over the next three innings. Taylor Delay had two of Lower Columbia's three hits in the loss.
