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Crater wears baseball crown Greg Wahl-Stevens photo Big inning lifts Comets over North By Greg Stiles KEIZER � There was no dramatic comeback. No nail-biting. None of the heartbeat-skipping type of stuff that characterized the first two meetings between the Crater Comets and the North Medford Black Tornado when they met for the Southern Oregon Conference championship last month. With Oregon�s Class 4A championship on the line Saturday evening at Volcanoes Stadium, the Comets plated five runs in the second inning, then backed pitcher Casey Campbell�s six-hit pitching with stellar outfield play in registering a 5-2 triumph before 2,447 fans. "I always knew we could do it, but it never seemed realistic until we got here," said catcher Josh Hinojosa, one of seven seniors in Crater�s lineup. "It hasn�t hit me yet what we�ve done." The title was the first for Crater, which lost the 1974 final to Lakeridge, 4-0, and the Comets are the first SOC team to win since Mazama won it all in 1996. Three one-run losses in the SOC deprived the Comets of the No. 1-ranking and the confer-ence title going into the playoffs. But a 10-2 first-round playoff win over Centennial, an 11-0 rout of Pendleton in the second round, a 7-1 triumph over Forest Grove and a 5-4 semifinal win over Lakeridge gave the Comets another shot at arch-rival North Medford. "After that Centennial game, I knew we had something special," Crater coach Chuck Dominiak said. "I don�t know exactly what it was, but I know the kids felt the same way. We were on the same page. Everyone knew what we had to do. There was that confident feeling." Enough swagger that the No. 6-ranked Comets (27-3) shrugged off Nate Mayben�s first-inning, leadoff home run that gave the No. 4 Black Tornado (23-6-1) a surge of confidence. After serving up a 3-1 pitch down the middle to Mayben, Campbell watched Ken Halpin mash a pitch off the left-center field wall. But when Halpin tried to stretch a double into a triple, Crater center fielder Ken Strate unloaded a throw to third base-man Brent Foster that made Halpin easy pickings. "That ball he hit was a triple," Campbell said. "Strate just hustled and made a great play. I can�t thank my outfield enough." Strate also robbed Colby Gonzales of a hit diving for a line drive in the left-center gap. The Comets then sent 10 hitters to the plate against North sophomore left-hander Brent Kircher (10-3) in the top of the second inning, with the first five scoring as Crater collected six hits and took advantage two errors. K.J. Chubb ignited the uprising with a base hit to right field. Campbell then launched a fly to the right-field wall which Shawn Backstrom couldn�t hold as he battled the sun. With runners at second and third bases, Jeremiah Toews poked a single into right field to give Crater the lead for good, 2-1. But the Comets weren�t through. Hinojosa lined a base hit just beyond Mayben�s reach at shortstop and designated hitter Jared Maddocks doubled to left-center, scoring Toews and pinch-runner David Sills. Ryan Gipson singled to put runners on the corners, then Kircher picked off Gipson. But after running down Gipson, Mayben�s throw home was too late to nab Sills. "The monkey was off our back after that," Hinojosa said. "It was a lot easier to call fastballs on the first pitch after that. When you get a lead like that, it makes it a lot easier." When Crater stranded three runners in the third inning, Dominiak was admittedly uneasy. "When we loaded the bases and they brought the infield in," he said, "I thought it would be great if we could punch one through and break things open." But Mayben snared Gipson�s grounder and fired home to force Campbell at the plate. He then nimbly scooped up Strate�s grounder for a force at second to end the inning. "I was hoping that wouldn�t come back to haunt us," Dominiak said. But Campbell and company allayed all such fears. "Casey told me about the third inning that he was in the groove," Dominiak said. "He said �I can feel it coach.� And it�s been that way throughout the playoffs." It wasn�t like the Tornado, searching for its first championship since 1984, rolled over. North unleashed a bunch of runners on the bases in the sixth and seventh innings, but only came up with one run. Backstrom drove in a run with a two-out base hit that scored Charlie Jensen. But with bases loaded, Foster handled a tough chopper down the line and forced Shad Thomas to end the threat. "Those choppers can really eat you up," admitted Foster. "I took a couple of steps aggressively to the ball then waited for it to hop up to me. It was an instinct play." Right fielder P.J. Pardee made outstanding plays in the fifth and seventh innings. With two out in the fifth, he got a late jump on Gonzales� fly, rushed in, then dove too early, but still snagged the ball. "I never really saw the ball," he admitted. With one out in the seventh he retreated toward the warning track then rolled over backwards as he hauled in Mayben�s fly ball. "I don�t feel we played our best game today," North Medford third baseman Danny Bruce said. "I think if you�d ask those guys, they�d say they played their best game. They had one big inning and Brent pitched a great game for us. They seemed to find the holes that inning. We hit the ball pretty well, but it was just a matter of us hitting a couple of degrees one way or another." Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. 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