Baseballs' playoff-hopes shattered

The Outlaws suffered a devastating 10-5 loss to Molalla in the first round of the state playoffs at home in Sisters on Wednesday, May 27.

Molalla was a scrappy opponent and put the ball in play, several times with two outs. The Indians got on the scoreboard first, and at the close of the second inning were on top 3-0. Sisters scored a run in the third and one in the fourth to close the gap to 3-2.

The Outlaws had a nice rally in the fifth, and took the lead at 5-3. The inning ended with runners on first and second. Alec Gannon hit a beautiful line drive to left field, but the fielder made a running catch for the

out.

Molalla was determined, fought back, and racked up five runs in the sixth, to regain the lead and go up 8-5.

Sisters was unable to score in the sixth, and went down one-two-three in the seventh.

"It wasn't our best hitting day," said Coach Steve Hodges. "We hit a lot of fly balls, and we hit a lot of balls right at them. We just didn't hit hard consistently, and we didn't get run production like we normally do in the heart of our order."

Justin Harrer went two-for-three with an RBI, Ben Larson went two-for-three with two RBI, and Ryan Cook had a base hit up the middle for an RBI.

Zach Morgan was the losing pitcher and closed out the season with a 10-2 record. Overall, the Outlaws finished 22-5.

"We have a lot of good athletes on the team, but again, in the state playoffs it's a one-and-done situation," said Hodges. "Unfortunately, we didn't play our best baseball today."