Photo by Steve Wlkowske

Canby second baseman Garret Miyake manages to avoid the slide of a Tualatin runner in attempting to turn a double play Friday afternoon. The Timberwolves fell behind early but won it with a big sixth inning.

By Sean Patterson
of the Herald

Canby's shot at overtaking Tualatin for the Pacific-8 Conference's second berth in the Class 4A baseball playoffs fell through in one inning Friday afternoon at Canby High School.

The Cougars, ahead 9-2 heading to the sixth, saw their comfortable lead quickly evaporate thanks to five errors and five hits. The end result: An 11-9 defeat that left Canby head coach Marty Hunter looking for answers.

"If I knew how to fix it, I'd do something," Hunter said of Canby's inability to close out games. "There's no excuse for what happened, plain and simple. We didn't make plays and they took advantage of it."

As a result, the Timberwolves clinched the Pac-8's No. 2 berth for the postseason. As the No. 3 seed, the Cougars must travel to Redmond, the No. 2 school out of the Intermountain League, for the first round May 23.

As preparation, the Cougars will play a practice game at home against Westview Wednesday at 4:30 p.m.

"They're a good ball club - it'll be like taking on a Tualatin or Forest Grove," Hunter said of the playoff matchup with the Panthers. "We'll have to play a lot better than we did (Friday), and I know we're capable of it.

We've got a solid group of players. It's just a matter of making the routine plays and finishing things out."

It looked as though the Cougars (16-9) were well on their way to knocking off Tualatin Friday before it all fell apart in the sixth.

In all, 14 batters came to the plate and nine of them scored in the inning. Canby had taken its big lead with a six-run fourth, highlighted by Drew Bayless' fake bunt/swing that rolled through an open hole in the infield to score a run and open the floodgates.

Garret Miyake followed with a two-run single and Ross Crooks drove another home with a hit. When Brett Fuge scored yet another runner with a single, the Cougars were in total control.

Fuge was also effective on the mound until the sixth, when Sean Criss came in to relieve after Tualatin started a rally.

"Pitching wasn't the problem," Hunter said. "We didn't get it done in the field."

The defeat came two days after Canby had outslugged Newberg 12-8. Josh Cushing was the hero that day, going 4 for 4 with four RBIs.

Canby's Fuge, Miyake and Crooks also had good days at the plate, collecting three hits apiece.

The Cougars were actually behind 5-2 before rallying for four runs in the fourth, four more in the fifth and three in the seventh. Cushing was credited with the victory.

The week opened with a 5-4 loss to league champion Forest Grove - a game that came down to the final out. After scoring twice in the seventh to pull within one, Canby had runners on second and third with two outs but couldn't score.

Crooks had two hits and two RBIs and Jake Norquist also had two hits. Criss threw well on the mound, Hunter said.

"That was a good game and Sean did a nice job," the coach said. "It was another of those games that could have gone either way. Of our seven league losses, five have been by one run. And a few of those losses have come because we didn't make the routine plays.

''Even if we make those plays in half those games, that's two or three more wins.''

Should Canby win next Tuesday, they would play again on May 26.

In the final tune-up before district, Canby's boys came up with a dominating performance in Silverton in the last of the Pacific-8 Conference track and field duals Tuesday.

Sweeps in the 1,500 meters and the javelin helped the Cougars overwhelm the Foxes 83-61 and gain a little momentum for the conference's district competition this Thursday and Friday at Tualatin High School.

And though the marks weren't the greatest - wind and rain played a role in keeping the times and distances modest - the Cougars came out of it healthy and in good shape for the most important meet of the season.

"I would think Tigard will be the favorite since they have so many big-meet points," Canby head coach Tom Millbrooke said of district. "Newberg is also very solid and has a lot of big-point types. Hopefully, we'll be right in there with McMinnville and Tualatin.

''We've got some solid individuals, but I don't know if we have the team depth to compete (for a title).''

Canby's boys will be led by senior Eric Logsdon, one of the most talented distance runners in the state. He'll be the favorite in the 1,500 and 3,000 meters.

The Cougars also have high hopes for John Zagyva, rated second in the league in the high hurdles, and Spencer Porter, seeded third in the 300 hurdles. It also wouldn't be surprising to see Todd Wagner (triple jump), Joseph Snyder (shot put) or Devin Deller (pole vault) make the state cut.

As always, the top two individual placers - or those who meet a state-qualifying standard - move on to the Class 4A championships May 26-27 at Hayward Field in Eugene.

As for Canby's girls, who finished 2-5 in league with last week's 75-70 loss to Silverton, state hopefuls include Chris Beck (400), Bethanie Evans (pole vault), Jessica Johnston (3,000) and Janeece Blunck (1,500).

Evans went to state a year ago and has the Pac-8's second-best mark in that event this season. And Beck has been to state each of the past two years in the 400. Both Johnston and Blunck are ranked fifth in their respective events.

"McMinnville figures to win it, followed by Tualatin," Millbrooke said of the girls' race. "I'd like to think we can challenge Tigard and Newberg for third."

The district meet is scheduled for a 2 p.m. start Thursday in Tualatin. Finals will be contested in six field events and in the 3,000 that afternoon, and there will be preliminary heats in six running events.

On Friday, field events commence at 3 p.m. and the running doesn't begin until 4:30 p.m.

In Silverton last week, Canby picked up a number of wins to end the regular season on a positive note.

For the boys (3-4), Buck Stone (4:26.5), Jeremy Greatreaks (4:30.4) and Matt Zwicker (4:32.3) finished a respective first through third to sweep the 1,500.

Later, the team pulled off the same trick in the javelin, with Brian Sauvain (145 feet, 5 inches), Kevin Adams (142-4) and Kevin Downing (124-4) taking care business.

Deller also lived up to his billing in the pole vault, winning it with a vault of 12 feet, and teammate Richard Walker was second at 10-6. Canby also went one-two in the 110 high hurdles with Zagyva (16.2) and Rob Bolton (17.2).

As expected, Logsdon cruised to a victory in the 800 (1:59.0), while teammate Kurt Sommer set a personal best in that event (2:04.1) for second. Rounding out the Canby winners were Wagner in the triple jump (38-5 1/2), Frankie Gonzalez in the 300 hurdles (45.4) and Zwicker in the 3,000 (9:53.9).

The CHS girls didn't win as many events, but they swept the 400 and saw two personal bests fall in the 1,500.

Leading the way in the shorter race was Julie Garcia, who went 1:05 to take it. Lexi Newman was second (1:08) and Jennifer Brainard third (1:08.2). In the 1,500, Blunck went 5:11.2 to win it and Johnston was close behind in 5:14.1.

Canby also picked up a good portion of its points in the 100, where Beck (13.3) and Garcia (13.4) finished a respective first and second. Beck was also a winner in the 200 (28.2), and Johnston was the best 800 runner in the field (2:38.1).

In the field events, Julia Hill won the discus (98-4); Caitlin O'Connor was second in the shot put (31-6); Danielle Palmer was runner-up in the javelin (102-1); and Kelsey Kraft wound up second in the high jump (4-4).

The Canby girls also won the meet's final event, the 1,600 relay (4:22.6), but it wasn't quite enough to overtake the Foxes in the overall points race.

Amber Kallstrom picked the opportune time to play one of her best rounds of the season - at the Pacific-8 Conference district golf tournament last Monday and Tuesday at McNary Golf Course in Keizer.

The Canby High School senior shot a 94 on the first day and a 99 on the second to finish with a two-day score of 193, good for second place among individuals. With that, she qualified for the May 15-16 Class 4A state tournament at the Trysting Tree Golf Club in Corvallis.

As a team, the Cougars finished third behind the two schools that consistently them during the regular season, Tualatin and Tigard.

"I think we were hoping for more, but it was nice to see Amber come through with the rounds she did," Canby head coach Joe Morelock said of Kallstrom. "The weather was definitely a factor, particularly on the second day. It was windy and cold, just brutal. Because of that, the scores weren't as good the second day."

As a team, Canby shot a 420 the first day and a 422 the second, putting the girls at 842 for the tournament. Tualatin won it with a 797 and Tigard was second at 815.

Individually, Tualatin's Jamie Horton led all players with her 87-94 - 181 total in the 36-hole event, contested on a par-72 course.

Sadly, Canby freshman Jean-Marie Peterson missed state as an individual by one shot. Her 101-100 - 201 score left her just a stroke out of the running for a top-five finish.

By Sean Patterson
of the Herald

North Marion geared up for its biggest meet of the season with a number of strong performances and high placements at a home track and field meet with Sisters, Woodburn and Cascade last Tuesday.

The Husky boys were particularly impressive, picking up five wins and just as many second-place finishes in action from North Marion High School.

Leading the way was distance runner Eric Griffiths, whose time of 9 minutes, 23.1 seconds in the 3,000 meters bettered his own school record by a tenth of a second. It was also good for first place.

The Huskies also got wins from Sam Vanderbeek in the 110 high hurdles (16.9), Jason Ellingson in the discus (133 feet, 0 inches), Mark Briant in the high jump (6-0) and Kevin Krieger in the pole vault (11-6).

Together, the team scored 69 points to finish second behind Cascade (110). Sisters was third with 55 points and Woodburn fourth with 29.

The results come as North Marion and the rest of the Capital Conference prepare for the district meet in Molalla May 19-20.

"We feel pretty good about our chances of getting some people to state," North Marion head coach Jim Bean said. "Our league is pretty loaded in some events, but hopefully we'll be able to make some sort of impact."

District opens with field events Friday at 3 p.m., followed by running events at 4 p.m. On Saturday, action begins with field events at noon.

Those who place first or second, or meet a state qualifying standard, move on to the Class 3A state meet May 26-27 at Hayward Field in Eugene.

North Marion hopes rest with Briant in the high jump, Griffiths and Alex McGladrey in the distances and Ellingson in the throws.

For the girls, Erin Gerhardt figures to challenge for a state spot after qualifying in the 3,000 last spring.

In the final regular season meet last week, Gerhardt won the 1,500 with a time of 5:11.6 to score the bulk of her team's 27 points.

Aside from her, only Emily Davidson, second in the javelin with a toss of 90-2, managed to place among the top two in their respective events.

Cascade won the meet with 113 points, followed by Sisters at 98, North Marion and Woodburn at 12.

Adding high placements for the boys were McGladrey, second in both the 800 (2:08.8) and the 1,500 (4:23.9); Vanderbeek, runner-up in the intermediate hurdles (42.9); Ellingson, second in the shot put (44-2); and Ryan Krause, who got the same placement in the high jump (5-10).