Hustlers lose opener in state tourney

“We had multiple chances to win, and I thought we were going to do that, but we just couldn’t get it done,” said Clark. “We didn’t play our game. We made five errors, which is something that just hasn’t happened to us. We’ve played good error-free defense all summer. We did some things today that were just kind of uncharacteristic of the team. It was definitely disappointing. It was a situation where if we would’ve played our best game, then we would’ve won.”

The Hustlers are now in a must-win situation in the eight-team, double-elimination tournament that continues through July 24. In order to stay alive in the five-day, eight-team event, the Hustlers (34-3) must win an 11 a.m. contest Thursday versus Roseburg, which lost 5-2 to Redmond in the opening round on Wednesday.

“We have to come out now and win on Thursday,” said Clark. “You don’t want to start in the loser’s bracket, but it also doesn’t mean that you’re out of it. I think we still have the team that can come back and run through the tournament and win it on Sunday. We’re not done though, but we’re going to have to play well against Roseburg. Isaac Anthony will be pitching Thursday and so I feel pretty good about where we’re at.

“I think the boys will come out and be motivated to play better. They didn’t lose very often this summer and they don’t like it. Hopefully, this will be a little bit of a wakeup call for them.”

Thursday’s winner will play in a 5 p.m. contest Friday against a yet-to-be-determined opponent.

The Hustlers will have their best pitcher on the mound Thursday in Anthony, the 2022 OSAA Class 1A/2A player-of-the-year. He led the Hustler offense on Wednesday, going 2-for-4 with an RBI. Riley Brock (1-for-4), Braden Schwartz (1-for-4, RBI) and Nathan Hedges (1-for-4, RBI) also contributed at the plate.

The Hustlers led 2-1 in the first inning vs. Eugene. After a scoreless second frame, the A’s scored four in the third to build a 5-2 advantage. Two more scoreless frames followed and then Eugene got a run in the top of the sixth to take a 6-2 lead.

The Hustlers scored three runs to trim the margin to 6-5. The Hustlers had the bases loaded with one out, but the A’s turned a double play to end the threat.