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Tornado turns defensive in 2-1 win WEST LINN -- The offensive juggernaut that led North Medford to the Southern Oregon Conference baseball title took a day off Friday in Class 4A state playoff action. Thankfully, the Black Tornado has a few other skills to fall back on as pitching and defense propelled North to a 2-1 victory over West Linn as it advanced to the quarterfinals. "Our kids came ready to play but we hit the ball right at them a few times," said North Medford coach Brett Wolfe. "It was just one of those games where defensively we were solid and offensively we never quite got into the groove." Nate Mayben's stylings on the mound more than struck a proper chord for Wolfe, however, as the senior struck out five and helped bail the Tornado out of jams in the first, fifth and seventh innings. In spite of Mayben's heroics, the biggest defensive play of the game fell into the hands of North players Johnny Whitaker, Colby Gonzales and Ken Halpin. With two outs in the seventh and a runner on first base for West Linn, Kyle Radnlesk flared a liner to right field. Despite playing Radnlesk to pull the ball, Whitaker got to the ball quick in right field and gunned a throw to Gonzales, who in turn relayed the ball to Halpin at the plate to nab Billy Houcke for the final out. "Johnny has a tremendous arm, and I knew if he got over quick then he'd have a shot," Wolfe said of the game-saving play. "Colby's clutch on relays and Kenny has been taught so well on blocking the plate." North Medford improved to 21-5-1 and will play host to North Salem at 4:30 p.m. Monday in a state quarterfinal at Miles Field. "To win on the road in that park and that atmosphere was big for us," said Wolfe, adding that the park dimensions of 290 feet to the left field fence and 320 to right might have made his players a bit greedy at the plate. West Linn wasted little time using its home-field advantage, with leadoff batter Greg Rainka lofting a 3-1 pitch over the left field wall in the first inning. North countered with both of its runs in the second as Shawn Backstrom and Josh Bottjer each had RBI hits to score Charlie Jensen and Phil Ouellette, respectively. North Medford .............020 000 0 -- 2 4 3 West Linn ..................100 000 0 -- 1 6 1 Mayben and Halpin; Speck and Billy Houcke. W -- Mayben (10-3). L -- Speck. 2B -- WL: Wiggins, Radnlesk. HR -- WL: Rainka. Class 3A PHOENIX 9, REEDSPORT 3 -- At Talent, Travis Dunlap pitched his fifth win of the season in a Class 3A state playoff. Reedsport was the home team, but coastal rain forced the game to be played at Hagler-James Park. Phoenix hosts North Marion, a 3-0 winner over Grant Union, 1 p.m. Monday. The Pirates broke open a 1-1 tie in the fourth-inning with three runs. Andy Bartels and Dunlap both singled and were sacrificed to second and third. Kyle Kaufman singled home Bartels and Chase Tester followed with a two-run triple to give Phoenix a 4-1 lead. Reedsport answered with a run of its own in the bottom half of the inning, but three more runs in the sixth sealed it for the Pirates. Bartels had three hits to lead Phoenix. Teammates Joel Bath, Kaufman and Tester each added two hits. Phoenix .........................010 313 1 -- 9 13 3 Reedsport ....................100 110 0 -- 3 5 1 Dunlap, Williams (7) and Loper; Fitzgerald and Hogg. W -- Dunlap (5-3). L -- Fitzgerald. 2B -- R: Merrifield. 3B -- P: Westfall, Tester. MAZAMA 4, NEWPORT 2 -- At Klamath Falls, senior Tyler Starkey lifted fourth-ranked Mazama into the state quarterfinals with a three-run, walk-off homer. The Vikings (20-7) entered the seventh inning trailing Valco League runner-up Newport 2-1. With one out, Trevor Mauch singled up the middle on a 3-2 pitch off Jeremy Robinson, the Bears' ace who was summoned in relief for the final inning. Mauch stole second, then Eric McDaniel reached on an error by shortstop Theron King, who moved to shortstop when Robinson went to the mound. Starkey followed with a homer over the left-center field fence on a 1-2 pitch. Senior pitcher Jake Nelson struck out eight and walked one in a complete-game performance for the Skyline Conference champion. Mazama travels to Seaside, which defeated Mollala 14-4, for the quarterfinal-round game Monday. Newport .....................000 101 0 -- 2 4 3 Mazama ....................000 001 3 -- 4 5 2 Dotson, Robinson (7) and Dickinson; Jak. Nelson and McDaniel. W -- Jak. Nelson (11-2). L -- Robinson. 2B -- N: Trego; H: Farley. HR -- M: Starkey. Class 2A CASCADE CHRISTIAN 2, OAKRIDGE 1 -- Chad Harvey and Blane Newfield knocked in runs to lead Cascade Christian to a first-round state playoff win over visiting Oakridge. The Challengers travel to Sherman County for a Class 2A quarterfinal Monday. Bryan Edwards picked up his 13th win against no losses, limiting Oakridge to four hits while fanning 10 in a complete-game performance. "We kind of turned it into a pitcher's duel," said Cascade Christian coach John Bruce. "Three times we ended an inning by lining out right to one of their guys with runners in scoring position." Cascade shortstop Don Jenkins took a one-out grounder and gunned down the potential tying run at the plate to kill a last-gasp effort in the seventh. Jenkins and Newfield each had two hits for Cascade Christian. Oakridge ..................................000 001 0 -- 1 4 1 Cascade Christian ...................010 010 x -- 2 7 2 Moore and Johnson; Edwards and Roberts. W -- Edwards (13-0). L -- Moore. 2B -- O: Hight; CC: Newfield. GLENDALE 1, AMITY 0 -- At Glendale, Curtis Foster lost his no-hit bid with two outs in the seventh inning but still led Glendale to the state tournament win. Foster also scored Glendale's lone run in the fourth when he doubled to lead things off and scored on an error. Glendale hosts Warrenton on Monday at 1 p.m. Amity .......................000 000 0 -- 0 1 2 Glendale ..................000 100 x -- 1 4 1 McCann and Mullins; Foster and Owens. W -- Foster. L -- McCann. 2B -- G: Foster. 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. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA