Outlaws advance to second round

The Outlaws baseball team shut out Cascade 4-0 at Stayton in the first round of the 4A Boys State Tournament on Friday, May 21. Sisters advanced to the second round to take on Siuslaw in Florence on Tuesday, May 25.

Four rain delays resulted in a three-and-a-half-hour game against Cascade.

Sisters got their offense going in the top of the third inning and scored two runs. Chase Kleint bunted and reached second base due to an error. Jacob Rocco followed with another bunt. Cascade's pitcher overthrew first base and Kleint scored. Max Stovall's line drive down the left field line scored Rocco and the Outlaws went up 2-0.

In the fifth inning the Outlaws added a run and took a 3-0 advantage. Jordan Hodges was hit by a pitch to start the inning and took first base. Rodney Warner hit a ground ball and Hodge's was thrown out at second on the fielder's choice. Warner stole second. Hayden Hudson was tough at the plate and after 10 pitches made a solid connection and hit a line drive into right field to score Warner.

In the sixth inning, Kleint got on base with a walk and stole second. Stovall followed with a base hit to left center and Kleint scored. Sisters pushed to a 4-0 advantage.

With the bases loaded in the seventh and only one out, Kleint hit a line drive to the shortstop which resulted in a double play. Cascade was not able to score in the bottom of the seventh and the Outlaws walked away with a 4-0 shutout.

Sisters had numerous opportunities to score more runs but just couldn't cash in, which resulted in 11 players left on base.

Brandon Morgan went the full seven innings on the mound for the Outlaws and recorded seven strikeouts in his first varsity shutout.

"Brandon did a magnificent job under the conditions," said Coach Steve Hodges. "Both our pitching and our defense is what gave us the victory."

Sisters' defense was very solid and was highlighted by an outstanding play from Rocco in the second inning. Cascade had a runner on second with no outs when a hard ground ball was hit to the left of Rocco at third base. Cascade's runner at second thought the ball was going through and headed for third. Rocco laid out, snagged the ball and tagged the runner out.

"Jacob normally plays in right field, but with Brandon pitching I moved Jacob to third for the first time," said Hodges. "He did a wonderful job. He's a verstile athlete who will take on any challenge, and that play changed the game. The momentum we got from Jacob on that play changed the tone for the game. It was a huge play."

Earlier in the week, on Monday, May 17, the Outlaws won two games in the Sky-Em league playoffs which secured them a berth to the state tournament.

Sisters (No. 4) defeated Junction City (No. 3) 12-4 at Elmira in the first game. The Tigers took a 2-0 lead in the first inning, but the Outlaws answered back with four runs in the second to go ahead 4-2. Groth, Kleint and Stovall all had RBI singles and Hodges' fielder's choice also scored a run.

Junction City fought back and in the top of the fourth tied it up 4-4. Stovall hit a line drive single to right field in the bottom of the inning and Sisters regained the lead at 5-4.

The Outlaws racked up seven runs in the sixth and sailed to a 12-4 win.

After a 30-minute break, Sisters went right into their game against Elmira to determine which team would advance to state. The Outlaws came out on top with a 10-5 victory.