Phoenix finishes sweep of Crater

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CENTRAL POINT — Phoenix took down one defending state champion — for a second time — and yet another awaits the Pirates on Saturday.

Class 4A Phoenix (6-0) recorded 18 hits in defeating Crater 15-2 in five innings on Wednesday at Anhorn Field. The win secured the Pirates' sweep of the defending Class 5A state champion Comets after they defeated Crater 9-6 last Friday.

Up next for the Pirates is North Medford, the defending Class 6A state champion.

"It's huge for us because we wanted to play some good teams to get ready for the league season," said Phoenix coach Joe Hagler, whose team also defeated Beaverton in the Crater Spring Break Tournament. "Winning is not the most important thing in nonleague, but it feels good."

Phoenix starting pitcher Neil Emerson worked four innings, allowing just two runs. He struck out three, walked only one and threw just 54 pitches, improving to 2-0 on the season.

"He pitched pretty well," Hagler said. "He had command of his curveball and spotted his fastball well. He didn't waste a lot of pitches. I was pleased with his pitching performance."

Not so pleased was Crater coach Jay Campbell, whose team fell to 6-3 with the league season beginning Saturday.

"Our pitching was poor, our hitting was poor, and defensively we struggled," he said. "It was all aspects of the game. We're not playing very good baseball right now."

Kory Locken led Phoenix's offensive barrage with a 4-for-4 effort, including three RBIs and four runs scored. He led off the game the same way he did in the first meeting against Crater — with a home run. He also had a double in the game. Andrew George had a triple and was 3-for-4 with three RBIs, while Jordan Lewis and Codey Barrett were each 2-for-3. Emerson helped his own cause with a two-run home run.

Crater had five hits in the game and scored both its runs in the first.

Phoenix 243 42 — 15 18 1

Crater 200 00 — 2 5 2

Emerson, Barrett (5) and Shepherd; Bighouse, Kathol (2), Zalecki (4), Sanford (5) and Higbee. W — Emerson (2-0). L — Bighouse. 2B — P: Locken, Lewis. 3B — P: George. HR — P: Locken (2), Emerson (1).

NORTH VALLEY 12, GLENDALE 2 — At Merlin, Logan Werner was 2-for-3 with a double and a triple and three RBIs and Keith Suits was 2-for-3 with a double to lead North Valley to the six-inning nonconference victory.

The Knights (3-7) scored five runs in the fourth and had 10 hits in the game to just five for Glendale.

Glendale 000 011 — 2 5 2

North Valley 100 524 — 12 10 2

Boucher, Tate (4) and Arnpriester; Weisbart, Werner (4), Sleight (6) and Austin. W — Weisbart (1-2). L — Boucher. 2B — NV: Suits, Slate, Shippy, Weisbart; G: Mozingo, Tuinstra. 3B — NV: Werner.

Softball

CRATER 5, HENLEY 1 — At Central Point, Brittany Reeves tossed a two-hitter and went 2-for-2 at the plate to lead Crater to a nonconference win.

Reeves gave up one earned run in the first inning on a pair of singles. She allowed only one walk the rest of the way while striking out 13 to improve to 6-0 on the season.

The Comets (7-2) struck for three runs in the first on a two-run single from Kayla Hopkinson and an RBI double by Sarah Haga.

Reeves added a two-RBI hit in the third inning to complete the scoring.

Crater opens Southern Sky Conference play on Saturday when it hosts Eagle Point.

Henley 100 000 0 — 1 2 0

Crater 302 000 x — 5 9 0

Deleshon and Doke; Reeves and Haga. W — Reeves (6-0). L — Deleshon. 2B — C: Reeves, Haga.

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