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About Appeal tribune. (Silverton, Or.) 1999-current | View Entire Issue (May 25, 2016)
Sports B1 Appeal Tribune, www.silvertonappeal.com Wednesday, May 25, 2016 COMEBACK KIDS PHOTOS BY DANIELLE PETERSON/STATESMAN JOURNAL Kennedy’s Jack Suing, left, and Dylan Arritola celebrate a run as the Trojans defeat Regis on Wednesday in Mt. Angel. Kennedy rallies to victory, share of Tri-River Conference crown MATT RAWLINGS SPECIAL TO THE STATESMAN JOURNAL The Kennedy High baseball team has proved all season long that it is a re- silient club. And the Trojans proved it once again on Wednesday Night. After trailing 5-0 in the fourth in- ning, they rallied to score eight runs in the final three innings to take the 8-7 victory, and a share of the Tri-River Conference title. “Rallying from behind has kind of been our thing the last couple weeks,” Kennedy coach Kevin Moffatt said. “This team is very mentally tough and we have shown throughout the season that we have the ability to battle back from deficits.” Regis’ Andrew Schmitt went 2-for-4 with two RBIs in the loss. Kennedy’s Owen Seiler went 2-for-5 with three RBIs, including the game- winning RBIs in the bottom of the sev- enth. “It’s always great when we can beat a team like Regis,” Seiler said. “They’re our rivals and they have had a great squad for a while now.” Regis struck for two runs in the top of the first thanks to two errors by the Trojans and an RBI walk by JaVon Lo- gan. Regis struck for three more in the third inning thanks to another RBI by Logan, and a two-run single by Schmitt. But Kennedy rallied for five runs in the bottom of the fourth on back-to back two-run singles by Jack Suing and Eli- sha Valladares. “We made too many mental mistakes today and give Kennedy credit for tak- ing advantage,” Regis coach Don Heu- berger said. “There is nothing specifi- cally we need to work on as a team as we head into the playoffs, we just really need to focus on being consistent and making the routine plays.” Kennedy took a 7-5 lead in the bot- tom of the fifth on a two-run single by Seiler. Regis however, rallied to score two runs in the top of the seventh on an er- rant throw by Seiler. “I think I gave the whole town of Mt. Angel a heart attack after that,” Seiler said jokingly. But Seiler got his chance to redeem himself in the bottom of the seventh. With the bases loaded and one out, Kennedy’s Johny Inoue pitches as the Trojans defeat Regis 8-7 on Wednesday. with the winning run on third base, the Regis middle infield elected to move into double-play depth, rather than cut off the run at home plate. Seiler grounded to second base. Re- gis was able to get the force out at sec- ond, but they were unable to throw out the speedy Seiler at first, which allowed the game-winning run to score. “Owen has been the kid that has come through for us all season,” Mof- fatt said. “He has really stepped up for us as a senior.” Despite the loss, Regis also wins a share of the Tri-River Conference title, and expects to make a deep run in the state playoffs. “We are happy to be back in the state playoffs and I have no doubt that these kids will rebound and come back to play good baseball,” Heuberger said. Even though Kennedy is now shift- ing their focus to the state playoffs, there is no doubt that they are going to enjoy this victory for a while. “From my point of view, it doesn’t get better than this,” said Johny Inoue, who was the winning pitcher, and scored the winning run. “Beating a real- ly good team in the last inning on a walk- off by one of my teammates. It just epit- omizes everything we have worked for this season.” Regis’s Charlie Gescher and the Rams fall to Kennedy 8-7 on Wednesday. BASEBALL STANDINGS BASEBALL MID-WILLAMETTE Crescent Valley Dallas Corvallis Central Silverton Lebanon South Albany Woodburn SOFTBALL CONF ALL 2A/1A SPEC. DIST 2 W L W L 18 15 14 10 9 8 6 4 3 6 7 11 12 13 15 17 22 17 16 12 11 8 6 7 3 9 10 12 15 18 19 20 St. Paul Regis Kennedy Western Mennonite Santiam East Linn Chr. Central Linn Country Chr. Perrydale REACH US: Cliff Kirkpatrick, ckirkpatr@Salem.gannett.com CONF ALL MID-WILLAMETTE W L W L 13 13 13 11 10 5 2 2 2 3 3 3 5 6 11 13 13 14 17 14 18 14 12 9 4 3 2 4 8 9 8 10 15 14 17 17 CONF W Lebanon Dallas Silverton Corvallis Central South Albany Crescent Valley 17 12 12 10 9 3 0 2A/1A SPEC. DIST 2 ALL L 1 6 6 8 9 15 17 W 22 17 17 16 11 3 3 L 2 7 9 9 11 19 18 Kennedy Central Linn Regis Perrydale Santiam St. Paul CONF ALL W L W L 10 8 5 4 2 1 0 2 5 6 8 9 16 13 10 9 11 5 5 6 8 8 12 11