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Butler serves up No. 1 seed for North By DON HUNT Mail Tribune ASHLAND - When Dustin Butler went into a hitting slump midway through the season that left his batting average just a few points over .200, the North Medford first baseman began heading to school early in the morning for extra batting practice. Butler lost some sleep, but the supplementary work in the batting cage has helped turn him into a human hitting machine. Butler unleashed his hot bat on Ashland Tuesday at North Mountain Park, crushing a grand slam in the second inning that fueled the Black Tornado to an 11-6 victory in a playoff game to determine the No. 1 seed in the Southern Oregon Conference. The two teams tied for the conference title at 11-3 in the SOC and split their regular-season doubleheader, necessitating Tuesday's contest. North Medford (23-3) will meet either Churchill or Newberg in a first-round state playoff game Monday at 4 p.m. at Miles Field, while the Grizzlies (17-7) will play host to Sheldon Monday at North Mountain Park. The starting time of that game is not yet determined. With the Tornado leading 4-2 in the top of the second inning, the bases loaded and two outs, Butler drilled a 2-0 fastball from Ashland starting pitcher Bill Rowe over the right field fence. The resultant 8-2 lead was sufficient support for North Medford pitcher Evan McArthur, who won his ninth game in 10 decisions. "It feels great to be hitting the ball hard again," said Butler, who went 2-for-3 Tuesday to raise his season average from .317 to .329. "I'm sure all that extra batting practice paid off." North Medford coach Brett Wolfe said he made a minor change in Butler's stance during the extra batting sessions. "We closed his stance just a little and that quickened his bat," Wolfe said. "These last five games, he's been on a tear." The Grizzlies rallied for two runs in the bottom of the third inning when Torr George, Rowe and Mike Allen produced singles, cutting North's lead to 8-4 and giving the sun-baked, hometown crowd something to cheer about. But the Tornado came right back with two runs in the top of the fourth on Russ Vandell's two-run triple, and added another run in the fifth on an RBI single by McArthur. That's been North Medford's M.O. all season - just when the other team gets close, string together a productive inning of your own and win going away. It's been the magic formula that has generated a .356 team batting average and 21 victories in 24 games. Tuesday also marked the Tornado's eighth straight win. "A team that's hot at the end of the season tends to go a long ways in the playoffs, and we're on a good roll right now," said McArthur, who helped his cause with a 3-for-3 effort at the plate. "We've got a lot of young guys in our lineup but they've earned their spots and they're not intimidated by anyone. "We're looking forward to the playoffs." So are the Grizzlies, who head into the postseason much more experienced than a year ago when they lost to Gresham 4-0 in the first round. "We put too much pressure on ourselves last season - we were way too tense," said Allen, who pitched the final three innings Tuesday, yielding four hits and one run. "This year we're going in more relaxed and more confident. "It would have been nice to win today, but this game didn't really mean that much. We're still in the playoffs and we've still got a home game in the first round." Allen led the Grizzlies at the plate with a double, two singles and a pair of RBIs. North Medford...............................440 210 0 - 11 13 1 Ashland........................................... 202 010 1 - 6 10 3 McArthur and Folsom; Rowe, C. Hegdahl (4), Allen (5) and George. W - McArthur (9-1). L - Rowe. 2B - NM: Vandell; A - Weston, Allen. 3B - NM: Vandell; A - Danis. HR - NM: Butler (1). Reach reporter Don Hunt at 776-4469, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.