Cascade Christian rallies, bags No. 2 seed

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It took Cascade Christian a while to get comfortable in its surroundings, but once the Challengers did, they rolled past Gold Beach 10-6 in a Sunset League baseball seeding game Thursday.

The game was played at Harry & David Field in Medford, a spacious, relatively new facility that Cascade Christian hadn't played at before. The Challengers' home games are at the V.A. Dom, which has an all-dirt field.

"I think our guys were a little nervous," said coach Paul Sha. "It's a beautiful place to play, and it's neat to see the kids get to do that. You could see they were like, 'Wow.' We had to get over a little bit of the jitters."

Cascade Christian (16-9) overcame a 5-0 deficit with six runs in the bottom of the fifth inning, then added four more in the sixth.

The win sends it to the Class 3A state playoffs as the league's No. 2 team. It visits Westside Christian of Lake Oswego, the champion of the West Valley League, on Tuesday. Gold Beach goes as the No. 3 team.

In the fifth inning, the Challengers parlayed doubles by Brandon Hauser and Jeremy Cheney and five walks into six runs. A walk to Josh Artale scored Cheney with the final run.

After the Panthers tied it in the sixth, Cascade Christian tallied four more times, the key hit being a two-run double by Wes Litton.

Hauser was 3-for-4 with an RBI, Cheney was on base three times and ripped a two-run double and Ryan Pech had a double and two RBIs.

Cheney survived giving up five runs in the first two innings to take the win on the mound.

"He didn't have his best stuff, and they hit him at first," said Sha. "But I was proud of him for persevering."

Gold Beach 230 001 0 — 6 8 3

Cascade Christian 000 064 x — 10 8 3

Smith, Long (5), Burdett (5) and Moore; Cheney, Pech (7) and Banks. W — Cheney (6-2). L — Long. 2B — GB: Martin; CC: Hauser, Cheney, Pech, Litton.

Softball

REEDSPORT 2, CASCADE CHRISTIAN 1 — At Reedsport, Leah Weakley pitched well for Cascade Christian, but Reedsport scored in the bottom of the seventh inning to claim the No. 2 seed in a Sunset League seeding game.

The Challengers (12-15), who will play a team to-be-determined on Tuesday in the first round, secured the third seed for the playoffs.

With the bases loaded, Brianna Ekelund singled in the winning run for the Braves.

Weakley surrendered seven hits, walked three and struck out three in seven innings for the Challengers.

Cascade Christian's Bree Luzny hit a run-scoring single in the second inning to tie it 1-1.

Cascade Christian 010 000 0 — 1 6 2

Reedsport 100 000 1 — 2 7 2

Weakley and Biondi; Nunn and Hitchcock. W — Nunn. L — Weakley (8-11).

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