Photo by Sean Patterson

After 20 years as a teacher and administrator at Canby High School, Keith Baker has decided to move on.

Baker, who served as Canby's athletic director the past five years, has accepted the job as assistant athletic director for the Portland Public School District.

"I could have stuck around another six or seven years, but if I was going to make a change this was the right time," said Baker, who arrived in Canby in 1980 after a three-year teaching stint in Rogue River. "I've enjoyed Canby and working here. But this is a new challenge, and I'm ready for something different."

Baker, 46, will work closely with Portland Athletic Director Greg Ross to coordinate scheduling, purchasing, transportation and other logistics for the Portland Interscholastic League's 10 schools.

His vacated position at Canby was open until Wednesday, at which time the administration will review applications and conduct interviews. The job is expected to be filled in the coming week, according to district officials.

Prior to taking the AD position, Baker taught art and photography while also serving as head of the school's fine arts department.

In Portland, he will do many of the same tasks he took on in Canby, only on a bigger scale.

"I'm basically doing the same job, only I'm doing it for 10 schools rather than one," he said. "It's a big undertaking, but I'm looking forward to working with Greg and taking on the responsibility."

Baker's departure was one of two athletic losses at Canby this month. The other came when CHS varsity girls soccer coach Lori Williamson announced she would not return for a fourth season in the fall.

Williamson cited "personal reasons" for her departure and said her leaving "had nothing to do with the kids or the program itself."

"It was a very difficult decision," she said. "But I've recently changed jobs and I don't have the flexibility I had before. It's tough because the group I've been working with (at the youth level) the past four years is just now coming into the program.

''I'll stay involved in coaching and I'll be around. I just won't be able to coach the varsity team.''

A replacement for Williamson has yet to be named.

Canby's AAA American Legion team hung on to defeat Taylor Kingsman of Rex Putnam High School, 8-7, to claim fourth place in the Zone 7 league tournament Sunday at North Marion High School.

The win guarantees the Cougars a spot at regionals, which open this weekend with a best-of-three series against the No. 1 seed out of the Zone 5 (Mt. Hood) conference.

"We accomplished our goal," Canby coach Marty Hunter said. "We wanted to advance, and that is what we did."

Canby, however, almost gave Sunday's game away in the seventh inning. After building a seven-run lead at 8-1, the Kingsmen battled back by pushing four runs across in the top of the seventh and putting the tying and go-ahead runs on base before Josh Cushing got the final out to preserve the victory.

"We battled," Hunter said. "I am proud of these guys. We have a lot of youth on this team and they battled back and played hard."

Canby got out of the gate quickly. In the bottom of the first, Garret Miyake, Cushing and Brett Fuge all hit singles to left to load the bases for Nate Dawson. Dawson hit a short ground ball in front of the pitcher, who fielded the ball and attempted to go home for the force out, but the catcher was away from the plate and everyone was safe.

Marcos Quintero then laced a single up the middle to drive in a pair, and two batters later, Steve Young singled to right field, scoring Dawson and giving Canby a 4-0 lead.

In the top of the second, after Putnam's Kevin Hamilin was hit by a pitch, Cushing made an amazing catch at third base and doubled up Hamilin at first to end the inning.

Putnam added one run in their half of the third, but Canby got that run back in the bottom of the same inning with a lead-off line drive home run over the right field fence by Fuge.

In the bottom of the fourth, Ross Crooks hustled down the first-base line for an infield single, followed by a Miyake walk. Cushing then came up with yet another clutch hit, lacing a two-run double to center and advancing to third on the throw to the plate. Fuge then delivered what turned out to be the game-winning RBI to left, scoring Cushing and giving Canby what seemed an insurmountable lead at 8-1.

"Our key today was to throw strikes," Hunter said. "That is what Marco Zamora did before he got a little tired. We wanted to make them (Putnam) get base hits, not give up walks, and I think we did that. They (Putnam) just started hitting at the end."

In fact, Zamora had a no-hitter entering the fifth inning. "That was huge, because we were short on pitching and needed an effort like that," Hunter said.

Canby's hopes of placing any higher in the tournament were dashed with a 22-4 loss to Lakeridge later in the day. A 10-run rally in the fourth essentially decided the game.

Previously, Canby opened with a 9-0 loss to Oregon City Friday before rebounding to bet Lake Oswego 13-10 on Saturday.

Hunter was pleased with the hitting of Crooks, Cushing, Fuge, Quintero, Miyake and Dawson, all of whom had between five and seven hits on the weekend.

The 2-2 split put the squad at 18-17 on the summer. The team will tune up for this weekend's series with games against Southridge (Tuesday) and Madison (Thursday), both of which begin at 7 p.m.

A time for Saturday's opener had yet to be determined at press time. Canby will play the first game on the road, host the second game Sunday, then go on the road again on Monday if necessary.

North Marion continued to impress everyone at the Zone 7 American Legion AAA league tournament with a 5-2 semifinal win over Oregon City Sunday at North Marion High School.

The victory sent the Huskies to the championship game against Lakeridge Monday night, the results of which were not available at press time.

"Little ol' North Marion keeps beating the big guys," North Marion coach Randy Brack said. "We know that we have some of the best baseball players in the state here. Now people are starting to see that."

Adam Kraft started and finished Sunday's game and was nothing short of spectacular. Kraft pitched seven innings, allowing only one earned run, while getting 11 ground-ball outs.

"He's a gamer," Brack said of Kraft. "He is turning out to be a tough pitcher. He is to the point where he wants the ball."

Offensively, the Huskies got production from several of the team's younger players. Kyle Castor had a big double in the top of the sixth inning, followed by an RBI double from Ty Brack to put North up 4-1.

North Marion spotted Oregon City one run in the bottom of the first on a fielding error, then Kraft shut the opposition down the rest of the way.

After the Huskies tied the game in the fourth on an RBI single by Kraft, Ryan Paradis came up in the fifth inning and crushed a two-run home run that landed just short of Salem.

The ball traveled over the right-field fence and into an orchard situated on the other side of a second fence. That put the Huskies up 3-1, and with the way Kraft was pitching, North Marion didn't need any more.

The Huskies would add one more run in the top of the seventh inning, however, as Derek Marsh laced a two-out triple to right center and Jason Hosley followed with an RBI single to right.

Oregon City added one meaningless run in the bottom of the seventh to make the final 5-2.

N. MARION 11, PUTNAM 2: The Huskies qualified for the semifinals with an 11-2 drubbing of the Taylor Kingsmen of Rex Putnam Saturday.

Kory Casto paced the Huskies, pitching all seven innings and striking out 10. He also went 2 for 3 with a solo home run.

"I felt confident today," Casto said. "My change-up was working for me and I was spotting the ball well. My splitty (split-finger fastball) was working, too."

Hosley continued his summer tear, going 2 for 4 and adding two more RBIs, while catcher Marsh complimented his stellar work behind the plate by going 2 for 3 with a single, triple and two RBIs.

It was the second time in as many days the Huskies had beaten schools twice their size. North Marion is the only Class 3A team in the state competing at the AAA Legion level.

"This is what I have been trying to tell people for the last two years," coach Brack said. "These guys (North Marion players) are as good as anyone in the state. Everyone has been so slow to recognize the fact that these kids have been incredibly successful over the last several years. They can flat-out play."

N. MARION 14, TUALATIN 0: North Marion kicked off last weekend's tournament with a 14-0 blowout of Tualatin, as Kraft and Casto combined for a one-hit shutout.

"This was a nice start for us," Brack said. "Our bats were working for us tonight, and I only had to use Kory for two innings."

The Huskies were paced offensively by Hosley, who had four hits and four RBIs, three of which came on a three-run homer.

In earning at least a top-two spot, the Huskies assured themselves of a trip to regionals, which begin with best-of-three series later this week