Sports
A7
Thursday, June 9, 2022
PREP BASEBALL
Suzie Collman/Contributed Photo
La Grande celebrates on the field after winning its second 4A title since 2017, and avenging last year’s loss to Hidden Valley in the state championship game. The Tigers crushed the Mustangs 10-1 on
Tuesday, June 7, 2022, at Volcanoes Stadium in Keizer.
Mission accomplished
Tigers avenge 2021 title game defeat, cruise to state title rout of Hidden Valley
By RONALD BOND
For The Observer
K
EIZER — The La Grande Tigers
are back on top of the Class 4A
baseball world.
And they used a punishing offensive attack and a
lockdown pitching effort to get there.
“It was pretty great, to be honest,” Jarett Armsrong
said. “It felt like it was deserved in a way because of
last year getting so close. It was a big sigh of relief for
the whole team to finally get that work in and get the
result you wanted.”
Nick Bornstedt and Armstrong both had three RBIs,
Jace Schow outpitched both of Hidden Valley’s aces,
and the Tigers (28-1 overall) rolled to a 10-1 victory
Tuesday, June 7, at Volcanoes Stadium in Keizer to
claim their third OSAA state title. La Grande claimed
its other state titles in 2007 and 2017.
“Phenomenal. Fantastic team win,” head coach
Parker McKinley said. “They were ready to go. We
knew we needed to get right after their starting pitcher.
Kids had some great approaches.”
Schow, who also homered in the win, tamed the
high-powered Mustang offense, striking out 11 and
allowing just one run on six hits. The lone run he sur-
rendered scored on a balk in the second inning.
“That’s a really, really good lineup, a strong-hitting
lineup that he pitched against,” McKinley said. “He
pitched beautifully. He executed his pitchers, hit his
spots.”
Schow, who noted that having the early lead helped
drop his stress, said he found success in knowing his
defense would make plays behind him. He pounded the
strike zone and deftly mixed up his pitches, but mostly
Suzie Collman/Contributed Photo
Derek Begin slides into home to score a run during La Grande’s 10-1 victory over Hidden Valley Tuesday, June 7, 2022, in the Class 4A
state championship at Volcanoes Stadium in Keizer.
used his fastball and changeup.
“I was trying to get them to put the ball in play and
throw strikes,” he said. “I was keeping them off bal-
ance by throwing my changeup and (making them hit)
it to my defense.”
The Tigers’ offense, meanwhile, scored early and
often against Hidden Valley aces Isaac Hill and Nate
Vidlak. Hill started, but lasted just five batters, leaving
with what McKinley said appeared to be an issue with
his throwing arm.
“Isaac, hopefully, was not (out with) anything
serious, but his arm was bothering him,” the coach
said.
Hill walked the first two batters he faced, then after
two strikeouts surrendered a two-out, two-run single to
Bornstedt for an early 2-0 lead.
“I think that definitely set the tone,” Bornstedt said.
“It was really kind of what got us going. I feel like it
was a spark. The rest of the team rallied behind me
after that. A credit to the first two guys that got walked,
too, just to be on and be in that situation for me.”
The Tigers added single runs in the third and fourth
against Vidlak on a Bornstedt RBI single and an Arm-
strong sacrifice fly in the fourth, then delivered the
See, Champs/Page A8
Everyone contributes in state title win
By RONALD BOND
For The Observer
K
EIZER — A
few days before
the La Grande
Tigers played in the Class
4A baseball state cham-
pionship against Hidden
Valley, head coach Parker
McKinley spoke of the
depth and complete-
ness of the squad, noting
that in the semifinal win
against Philomath, seven
players accounted for
the 10 hits. Everyone,
it seemed, was getting
involved.
That fact was on dis-
play again in the cham-
pionship game, as six
players accounted for,
once again, 10 hits in the
Tigers’ 10-1 victory over
the Mustangs on Tuesday,
June 7, in Keizer’s Volca-
noes Stadium.
In the final, Jace
Suzie Collman/Contributed Photo
La Grande head coach Parker McKinley lifts the OSAA Class 4A state trophy following the team’s
10-1 win over Hidden Valley on Tuesday, June 7, 2022, at Volcanoes Stadium in Keizer.
Schow and Devin Bell
accounted for half of
the 10 hits, with five
others getting into the hit
column to help power the
offense.
The big hits that
decided the game came
from different spots in
the lineup than the No. 2
and No. 3 hitters, though
Schow and Bell com-
bined for three more hits
and Schow homered.
Nick Bornstedt, the No. 5
hitter, went 3-for-4 with
three RBIs, and he came
through in the clutch early
with a two-out, two-run
single to give La Grande
the lead. He later added
an RBI single to help pad
the lead.
Later, it was Braden
Carson and Jarett Arm-
strong, the No. 7 and No.
8 batters, accounting for
key hits. Armstrong had
a fourth-inning sacri-
fice fly, and in the span of
four pitches in the fifth,
the two delivered the
knockout punches. With
the bases loaded, and La
Grande already extending
its lead to 5-1 on a bas-
es-loaded walk to Cesar
Rodriguez, Carson ripped
the first pitch he saw into
center field for two runs.
Three pitches later, Arm-
strong roped a double to
right field to drive in two
more runs.
“Anyone can get the
job done,” Armstrong
said. “We don’t have a top
or a bottom of the lineup,
I would say. We have
good hitters. That fifth
inning is evidence of that,
that we all are competi-
tive at the plate.”
It was also evidence of
what McKinley cited last
week when he said that
at any moment this La
Grande team could have
any player come up with
a big hit, a clutch play
on defense or a fantastic
effort on the mound.
“At any point in
our lineup, we have
that potential to make
it happen,” he said.
“It’s something that
the kids have worked
See, Team/Page A8