With The Dalles hitting the field against West Linn and Gresham-Barlow this weekend at the 14U Babe Ruth State Championships, there was a disadvantage in terms of cohesiveness and flow.
Gresham is going on its third month together, while West Linn plays year-round.
The Dalles had two weeks.
In two state matchups, The Dalles was eliminated from postseason contention after losses to West Linn and Gresham-Barlow, capped by a season-ending 16-5 mercy-ruled loss Saturday in tournament play in The Dalles.
“Skill-wise, we are right there, but we just needed a little more time to come together,” TD head coach Chad Smith said. “They all play really hard and they are very passionate about the game and it shows. There is a lot of skill on this team, but unfortunately, the ball didn’t bounce our way. We hit it right to players, hit into some double plays and left the bases loaded. It is an unfortunate thing, but that stuff happens.”
In Friday’s first game, TD had five hits and seven walks, but stranded 11 runners on base, including the bases loaded twice, as West Linn came out on top by a 9-1 margin at Kramer Field.
Jaxon Pullen was 2 for 4, Brock LaFaver posted a single and a walk, and Jace Troutman doubled and walked.
Carson Smith and William Shute each had two walks, and Ayden Hendershot singled and scored the team’s only run in the third inning.
“We probably weren’t the favorites coming into the tournament, but we could’ve played with any of those teams,” Troutman said. “I think we could have played better and gotten more wins, because the scores didn’t really show how competitive we were. The big thing is in the first game, we left a bunch of baserunners on, and we should have been up in that game, and in this game, we left a bunch of baserunners on again and we should’ve won this one too.”
Facing elimination ahead of Saturday’s game versus Gresham-Barlow, The Dalles 14U All-Stars led 3-0 after one inning, but Gresham-Barlow outscored them 16-2 over the final five frames to secure a 16-5 mercy-ruled victory in six innings to move to the championship game, ending TD’s season.
In the first inning, TD scored those three runs on three walks, a hit batter and an error, as Kyle Smiley, LaFaver and Troutman crossed the plate.
Gresham-Barlow scored five in the second and six in the fourth to go out in front, 11-3, and added two fifth-inning runs to extend their cushion to 13-3.
An RBI infield single by LaFaver plated Smiley to keep the game going, 13-4.
Gresham-Barlow put up three unearned runs in the sixth to make it 16-4, but TD scored an unearned run by Hendershot and had a runner at second base left aboard, with the final out recorded on a flyout to right.
Offensively, TD managed two hits, six walks and a hit by pitch and left six runners on base, 17 for the two games.
Hendershot went 1 for 3 with a run, Smiley ended up 0 for 2 with two walks and two runs scored, and LaFaver was 1 for 2 with a walk, a run scored and an RBI.
Troutman went hitless in three plate appearances, but walked and scored in the first inning, Carson Smith was 0 for 1 with a hit by pitch and a walk, and Shute finished 0 for 2 with a walk.
“I am pretty mad that we couldn’t come out on top, but we need to learn from this and get better,” TD’s Jaxon Pullen said. “We have to work on our hitting a lot more and we have to work on fielding and making better play decisions. A lot of people won’t be here next year, because some high school players won’t be able to play, but hopefully most of us stay together and we can make a run next year.”
TD pitchers gave up 16 runs, nine earned, on six hits, 10 walks and five errors.
It is tough to evaluate the pitching staff, just because coach Smith feels they can show much more in the bigger picture.
With as many as eight arms on the roster, coach Smith only had the chance to show off five of them, including Troutman, Pullen, Carson Smith, Pullen and Troutman on Friday, followed by LaFaver and Pullen in Saturday’s finale.
“I feel like I do have the best pitching staff here,” coach Smith said. “I have 10 guys on my team, eight of them are effective pitchers. We only used five pitchers. I still have three more. Fortunately, you didn’t get to see them all, and unfortunately, you didn’t get to see them all. Luckily, we still have a few of them coming back. Fortunately, I still have the best infield in the league, I believe. They are pretty solid, but we just have to put it all together. With time, we could do that.”
With several of the players moving on and some coming back, there is still reason for optimism with this group.
Two games will not dictate their season, so the plan is to keep working to get past these top teams and back into state contention next year.
Coach Smith knows in his heart that the time is coming for this team.
The wins will come as long as they mature between the ears.
“There’s always that hunger to win, so the fact that we lost to a team that we know we can beat makes it even more frustrating,” TD’s Lucas Black said. “I guarantee that next year, we will come back harder, faster and stronger. We just got to perform better and get that dub (W).”
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