North downs Roseburg in SWC opener

April 16, 2009
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ROSEBURG — Roseburg's domination of the Southwest Conference appears to be coming to an end.

Taylor Schmidt earned her eighth win of the season and was 3-for-3 from the plate in leading North Medford to a 4-1 victory over the Indians on Wednesday in the SWC opener for both teams.

Roseburg, which lost all but four starters from a team that reached the state title game last season, had won 16 straight conference games dating back to May 12, 2007.

The Indians have won their conference three years in a row and were 15-0 in the SWC last season.

But North Medford took an important early step in the SWC race on Wednesday.

The Black Tornado (8-1, 1-0 SWC) broke a 1-1 tie in the fourth when Brittany Griffor singled up the middle to score Hannah Leming. Griffor then scored on Amanda Freitas' line drive up the middle. Jenna Stevens followed with a fly ball to left field that hit off the outstretched glove of a Roseburg defender and rolled to the wall, allowing Freitas to score. Stevens was credited with an RBI single.

Griffor and Freitas were both 2-for-3 in the game.

The Black Tornado opened the scoring with one run in the first when Schmidt singled. Her courtesy runner, Sierra Berryessa, scored on Amanda Wolfe's single.

Roseburg tied it with an unearned run in the third when Breanne Thomas reached on an error, stole second and scored on Crysta Conn's single to right field.

Schmidt allowed six hits, struck out three and surrendered one walk in seven innings. Sophomore Marissa Duarte took the loss for Roseburg, which is in its first season since the graduation of two-time Class 6A pitcher of the year Mikayla Endicott.

North Medford was picked second — one spot ahead of Roseburg — in a preseason poll of conference coaches.

North Medford 100 300 0 — 4 11 1

Roseburg 001 000 0 — 1 6 1

Schmidt and Wolfe; Duarte, Maley (6) and Jarrett. W — Schmidt (8-1). L — Duarte.

SOUTH MEDFORD 3, SOUTH EUGENE 2 — Tasha Equitz led off the bottom of the first inning with a home run and South Medford never trailed at U.S. Cellular Community Park.

The Panthers (4-7, 1-0 SWC) followed with two runs in the second and kept South Eugene quiet until the top of the fourth, when South allowed two unearned runs off three errors.

Dominique Newman threw a two-hitter with six strikeouts for the Panthers, and Jordan Jones was 1-for-3 with an RBI double.

Margarite Waddell went 2-for-3 for South Eugene.

South Eugene 000 200 0 — 2 2 1

South Medford 120 000 x — 3 9 4

Waddell and Shortreed; Newman and Equitz. W — Newman (2-7). L — Waddell. 2B — SM: James, Hawkins, Jones. HR — SM: Equitz (1).

GRANTS PASS 4, SHELDON 0 — At Eugene, Morgan Barnes allowed just three hits and struck out 10 as Grants Pass won its Southwest Conference opener.

Karleigh Prestianni finished 2-for-3 with one RBI coming on her second home run of the season for the Cavers (7-3, 1-0 SWC). She also had a double, and Jamie Gregory added a two-run double in the seventh.

Five of Grants Pass' eight hits were extra-base hits. Krystin Jantzer and Emily Woolf also had doubles.

Teea Rogers hit a double for Sheldon (7-4, 0-1).

Grants Pass 001 001 2 — 4 8 0

Sheldon 000 000 0 — 0 3 0

Barnes and Woolf; Halberson and T. Brown. W — Barnes (7-3). L — Halberson. 2B — S: Rogers; GP: Gregory, Prestianni, Jantzer, Woolf. HR — GP: Prestianni (2).

SWC Baseball

SOUTH MEDFORD 3, SOUTH EUGENE 1 — At Eugene, Max Britton fired a three-hitter and supplied an RBI single in the second inning to lead South Medford in the Southwest Conference opener for both teams.

Isaac Rolie scored the first run in the second for the Panthers (8-5, 1-0 SWC) on a throwing error after a grounder by Jordan Lundgren. South Eugene committed four errors overall.

Britton faced 25 batters — four over the minimum — with no strikeouts and one walk.

South Medford 002 100 0 — 3 7 0

South Eugene 000 001 0 — 1 3 4

Britton and Reordan; Klingman and Larson. W — Britton (4-0). L — Klingman. 2B — SM: Lines; SE: Mallory.

Southern Sky Baseball

KLAMATH UNION 13, MAZAMA 7 — At Klamath Falls, Alex Stork drove in three runs on two hits and Klamath Union took advantage of nine Mazama errors in the SSC win.

Josh Gibson and Peter Bell each added two hits for the Pelicans (6-5, 1-3 SSC), while Jake Whisler and Mason Aspera had two RBIs apiece.

Aaron Bocchi had a two-run homer for Mazama (6-7, 1-3) and Andrew McDaniel added two RBIs, with Gage Beckman notching two hits.

Klamath Union 322 330 0 — 13 7 1

Mazama 022 003 0 — 7 9 9

White, Brown (6) and Stork; Beckman, Smith (4), Howard (6) and Reinhard. W — White. L — Beckman. 2B — KU: Whisler, Bell; M: A. McDaniel, Beckman. 3B — KU: Gibson. HR — M: Bocchi.