Outlaws take third at Arizona tourney

Rongi Yost, Correspondent | Last updated Apr 05, 2011 12:0pm0

The Outlaws baseball team made their annual trek to Arizona over spring break and finished third in the Salt River Mesa Invitational Tournament held March 24-27.

Sisters scored more than 10 runs in each of their first three games of the tourney. The Outlaws earned wins in all three and then lost in the semi-final.

The Outlaws started the tourney with a 12-1 win over Tempe Prep. Sisters had two big innings in the contest, scoring three runs in the first inning and five in the fourth, which gave them a big lead early in the game.

Justin Erlandson had two hits in the game, Erik Carlson and Jordan Hodges doubled, and Shane Groth was the winning pitcher with six strikeouts.

Sisters went on to easily handle San Tan Foothills 11-1.

Groth and Hodges shared duties on the mound and did a great job throwing strikes and forcing San Tan to put the ball in play. Erlandson and Joey Morgan each had two hits, Hodges doubled and Carlson hit a double to the left center wall for two RBI.

The Outlaws recorded their third win with an 11-1 victory over South Point High School. The Oregon boys played a great defensive game and pitchers Groth and Hodges held the South Point hitters at bay.

Chase Goff had a nice defensive play in the second inning, which fired up the team and gave them added momentum. With runners at first and third, Goff threw out the runner and kept South Point from scoring.

Groth had a two-RBI single and Morgan had an RBI single for Sisters. Carlson had two hits in the game.

The Outlaws lost 3-0 to Bagdad High School in the semi-finals to finish third.

Bagdad's pitcher, Roveall, pitched well and held Sisters to just two hits, a double from Carlson and a single from Erlandson.

"They shut us down pretty good," said Coach Steve Hodges. "They only had four hits in the game and they scored all three of their runs in the fourth inning. We gave up a lead-off homerun and the other two runs were unearned."

Hodges told The Nugget that all in all it was a great trip.

"We played at the right level, saw some good teams and got lots of at-bats," said Hodges. "And we had good weather. It was exactly what we wanted."

In addition to four baseball games in a 48-hour period, the Outlaws managed to take in a Suns basketball game, some Major League spring training games, play some miniature golf and get lots of pool time under the warm Arizona sun.

Outlaws baseball wins first two league games

The Outlaws notched two big wins to launch league play: a 14-6 victory over the Tigers at Junction City (JC) on Friday, April 1, and a 12-3 win a day later at home against Elmira.

Jardan Weems highlighted Friday's action against JC with a leadoff triple in the second inning. Sisters scored five runs in the final two innings to seal the victory and put the game away.

Justin Erlandson, Erik Carlson, Jordan Hodges and Joey Morgan all singled for the Outlaws, and Shane Groth had two hits for two RBI.

Carlson pitched the first three innings for the Outlaws, and Groth and Jon Lahey came in as relief and each pitched two innings. Sisters had 10 hits on three errors and JC had six hits on three errors.

"We didn't play our best baseball, but we still won, which was good," said Coach Steve Hodges. "They scored most of their runs via walks, so we need to work on throwing strikes at the beginning of the game. And, we need to do better at driving in runners with players on base."

On Saturday, the Outlaws scored 10 runs in the first two innings to take a big lead against the Falcons.

Shane Groth hit a two-RBI single to right center in the first inning to get the scoring spree started.

Justin Erlandson's double and Joey Morgan's two-RBI single up the middle highlighted the second inning and helped push Sisters to the 10-run mark.

The Outlaws tacked on one run in the fifth and another in the sixth to beat Elmira by nine.

Sisters had 11 hits and four errors in the game. Groth was the winning pitcher and Hodges and Lahey provided relief.

"Our pitchers all pitched well," said Hodges. "They threw strikes and made Elmira put the ball in play."

The Outlaws are 2-0 in Sky-Em play and 7-1 overall. Sisters was to play at Sweet Home on Tuesday, April 5, and then play at home against La Pine on Friday,

April 8.