Scappoose Juniors hang tough at 1-1

Baseball team rips Murrayhill, then loses to Cascade

By John Brewington

The South County Spotlight, Jul 28, 2009, Updated Oct 30, 2009

John Brewington / The South County Spotlight

AHEAD OF THE THROW-Scappoose's Kyle Kramer slides home safely, just ahead of the throw during Saturday's Little League Juniors State Tournament. Scappoose won the game 16-3.

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The Scappoose Juniors opened the Little League state tournament sizzling hot Saturday, but cooled off considerably in their second pool-play outing on Sunday at Southridge High School in Beaverton.

The weather was blistering hot both days and Scappoose was too, at least against Murrayhill Saturday evening. They blasted Murrayhill 16-3 in a five-inning affair behind the pitching of Kody Backus.

They had a different outing the next afternoon, losing to Cascade, 13-2.

The split leaves Scappoose with a match Wednesday against the loser of Monday night’s Bend-Central Point game. The winner of that match-up will play Reynolds, the No. 1 team from Pool A on Thursday. The championship is a one-game event on Friday night. All the remaining games start at 6 p.m.

“Actually, we’re positioned well to make the championship game,” Scappoose Manager Joe Backus said.

“We played really well the first night,” he added. “We made few errors and everybody hit the ball from top to bottom in the line-up.

“The next night, they (Cascade) played like us (in our first game). They made all the plays and we didn’t. We had a few errors and dropped a few fly balls. (Cascade) hit the ball really well–just crushed it. We hit okay with only two or three strikes outs.”

Scappoose’s two runs came in the first inning when Cascade made a bases-loaded error. They wouldn’t score again.

On Saturday night Scappoose would push across five runs in the first inning against Murrayhill and lead 10-0 going into the fifth inning. Murrayhill barely threatened against Backus and he was able to pitch a complete game.

Diminutive Paul Revis, the MVP from district, started the game for Scappoose with a bloop single. Kyle Kramer then reached base on an infield single. Backus followed with a two-RBI triple. That brought up clean-up hitter Kyle Durvin and Murrayhill backed up. Durvin surprised them with a clean bunt down the third base line and was safe. Sam Padgett followed with a double to score two more runs. Jesse Hanson’s smack into the infield would allow Padgett to score.

Scappoose sent nine batters to the plate in the frame. Murrayhill would lead off with a hit, and then retire in order. The score would remain 5-0 until the top of the fourth.

Branden Tardif started the rally by reaching base on anerror. Kramer followed with a single to drive him home. Backus also singled to score Kramer, and then Durvin tripled to score one more. Tyler Schillereff sent Durvin home with a play at second and Padgett followed with a walk. Michael Lohman hit into an error at short and Schillereff scored.

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