La Grande Junior Little League team crowned Oregon state champions
Jul. 29—LA GRANDE — After a first-round loss, the La Grande Junior baseball team knew it would have to play its best baseball to bring a state trophy to Union County.
It did just that.
La Grande defeated South Central 14-12 in the championship game of the Oregon Little League Junior Baseball Tournament on Wednesday, July 21, in Turner.
"The kids went into the game knowing that we were going to fight hard and give it all we got," La Grande head coach Kirk Fenley said.
La Grande earned its spot in the state tournament after defeating Wallowa 19-8 in the District 3 tournament last month in Baker City. The juniors, whose ages range from 12 to 14, competed against Baker and Wallowa in a double-elimination district tournament before traveling to Turner's Cascade Sports Complex for the state tournament.
Things got off to a rough start for La Grande in a first-round matchup against South Central Little League from District 5. While most little league games are high scoring, South Central shut out La Grande by a narrow margin of 2-0. South Central cruised by West Salem Little League 30-6 and secured its spot in the final.
"It was a really good pitching duel, but our kids just had the state nerves," Fenley said. "They were just a little flat on the bats and faced some tough pitching."
Following the loss, the La Grande players and coaching staff attended a Salem-Keizer Volcanoes minor league game to take some pressure off from the tournament. According to La Grande player Nolan Needham, seeing professionals at the game make errors and bounce back to win inspired the team.
"We got to stay as a family for six straight days," Fenley said. "It was a lot of time for the kids to bond and grow, which I think really helped in taking it to the end."
Bouncing back after an early loss
In a do-or-die matchup with Raleigh Hills of District 4, La Grande dominated in a 21-9 victory, keeping the team's hopes alive. In the next round, La Grande knocked off West Salem Little League 21-10 to secure a chance at redemption in the winner's bracket.
"We got the nerves out of us and had a lot of good leadership from the 14-year-olds," Fenley said. "We just took that momentum and went with it and got a couple solid wins to carry us to the final."
In a rematch with South Central, La Grande avenged its first-round loss with a 12-6 victory. Shaun Youngblood started for La Grande and allowed four runs on just four hits and earned the win. Jordan Tucker pitched in relief and earned the save, ensuring La Grande's spot in the championship final later that day.
"We had a lot of momentum going since we had just beat them," pitcher Bryce Pennington said.
With all the momentum on the side of La Grande, the local little leaguers jumped out to a 14-2 lead. However, South Central scored eight runs in the fifth inning to tighten up the game.
"We got a bit nervous toward the end when they came back," Needham said. "We took off some pressure but had to reapply it when they came back. It shocked us back into that mindset of closing out the game."
Behind a strong outing from Pennington on the mound and Riley Krantz's 3-for-5 performance at the plate, La Grande held on to win and claim the state championship.
"It was a feeling that I never thought I'd have," Needham said.
Needham led the team with nine hits and 12 runs during the entirety of the state competition. Carter Seaquist tallied seven hits and Sovann Chab recorded five. Needham also pitched in the first game against South Central, allowing no hits over five innings and striking out 13 opposing batters.
Similar to the Union County Junior Softball All-Stars who won a state title, there will be no further regional or national competitions for the La Grande Junior team. Little League Baseball and Softball canceled the regional tournaments and national World Series at the junior level due to the pandemic.
"We had a great season," Needham said. "After we made it to the final, we had nothing to lose. We came into that final game with the mentality that we can win."
