North Marion wins battle for second
AURORA - After falling behind 3-0 in the first inning, North Marion outscored Cascade 6-2 the rest of the way to claim the No. 2 spot in the Oregon West Conference on Friday afternoon.
The Huskies (13-13, 10-5) finished with a 10-5 league record for the second consecutive season and a winning league record for the third straight season. North Marion is guaranteed a home play-in game in next week's play-in round. Cascade (11-12, 8-7) finishes as the league's No. 3 seed for the second straight season.
The Cougars jumped on North Marion starter Hunter Beachy (4-3, 5.29) in the opening inning to the tune of three runs off five hits. The Huskies first two errors of the week contributed to the Cougars big inning. Beachy was fortunate to draw a double-play ball to end the inning and limit Cascade to just three runs.
After quiet second and third innings both ways, North Marion finally got to Cascade starter Spencer Crawford in the bottom of the fourth. Jordan Kendall doubled home the Huskies first run of the game and would come into score on a ground ball later in the inning. Josiah Ramon doubled home North Marion's third run of the inning before Nat Barrell laid down a bunt on a suicide squeeze play to give the Huskies their first lead at 4-3.
Cascade didn't take long to regain their lead, scoring two runs in the top of the fifth inning on a pair of base hits.
The back-and-forth affair continued as the Huskies reclaimed their lead in the bottom of the sixth. Kendall led off the frame with another double, running his team-leading double total to 16 on the season. Doubrava reached on a bunt single before a wild pitch led to two runners in scoring position for Ramon. Josiah came through with what proved to be the game-winning single, scoring the tying and go-ahead runs to put North Marion on top 6-5.
After surrendering a leadoff double, Beachy's day on the mound was ended one batter into the top of the seventh, giving way to Kendall. After interference resulted in the first out, Kendall coaxed a strikeout and a line out to end the game. The senior hurler claimed his first save of the season and the first save of any pitcher on the club.
North Marion was opportunistic with their limited number of hits, recording just six in the game. When recording six or less hits, the Huskies were 3-8 coming into Friday's game. When allowing ten or more hits, North Marion was just 1-9. The Huskies reversed both trends, winning a game where they were out-hit by six.
The Cougars stranded nine runners on the base paths.
Through the third inning of Friday's game, Crawford had limited North Marion to just two earned runs over ten innings pitched against the Huskies this season (1.80 ERA). In their eleventh inning of batting vs. Crawford, North Marion finally broke through to score six runs over the next three frames. Crawford's ERA vs. the Huskies jumped from 1.80 to 4.15 in the final three innings.
North Marion is off until Thursday, unable to schedule a non-conference tune-up game due to OSAA scheduling maximums. The Huskies are awaiting an unknown opponent at Bob Brack Stadium, where the two clubs will battle for a trip to the OSAA State Playoffs. North Marion will match up with a team who took third place in their league or a team who took fourth and has a high OSAA ranking. The rankings freeze at 10:00pm on Saturday, the time that the Huskies opponent will be made official.
North Marion is 0-2 in play-in round games since the system was introduced in 2011. Both losses came on the road vs. Scappoose, as the Huskies have never hosted a play-in game.
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