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For North, another year, another SOC title The Black Tornado sweeps away Crater to secure its eighth consecutive Southern Oregon Conference crown By TIM PYLE Mail Tribune Knowing how to win the close one counts for a lot. Example one is the North Medford High softball team, which captured its eighth straight Southern Oregon Conference championship with a pair of one-run victories over Crater at Fagone Field on Saturday. Despite its 13-1 final conference record, the fifth-ranked Black Tornado (18-5 overall) didn't exactly storm through the SOC this season. What North did do was pitch brilliantly, defend exceptionally, run the bases aggressively and, most of all, win tight games unconditionally. The sweep of the Comets (17-7, 8-6 SOC) marked the Tornado's fifth and sixth one-run victories in conference play, experiences that should serve it well in the Class 4A state tournament, which begins May 20. "We keep battling 'til the end," said junior ace Keri Sevano, who improved to 13-1 in earning both pitching victories Saturday. "We don't give up at all. That's our thing - do not give up until the last out. "Everybody else in the conference is so close to the same talent level as us, the same caliber. But we just battle." That determination helped the Tornado win both ends - 2-1 and 3-2 in nine innings - of Saturday's doubleheader in its last at-bats. Game 1 ended on Laura Tarkon's two-out double to drive home Brandi Paxton in the bottom of the seventh inning. Game 2 concluded when Tarkon, who had reached on a leadoff triple, scored with one out in the bottom of the ninth on Jenni Bittle's throwing error. "(Tarkon) was absolutely huge," North head coach Larry Binney said. "Both her hits, there was nothing cheap about them. They were hit right on the nose." Conference titles are nothing new for Binney, who now has 17 SOC crowns in 20 years with the Tornado. But Binney, who will retire for good at the end of this season, still can find particular delight in his latest championship club. "I can't tell you how proud I am of these kids," said Binney, who returned for one more season after sitting out last year, when Sara Barry directed North. "There's a lot of people that didn't feel like we were gonna win the conference this year. And this is maybe the hardest-working team that we've had in 20 years." Sevano has been integral to the Tornado's success and likely the most valuable player in the SOC this season. The junior gave up her first and only earned run in conference action in the sixth inning of Game 1 Saturday, when Crater pitcher Janelle Cristofaro tripled and scored on a sacrifice fly to knot the score at 1-1. With a complete-game effort in the opener and 6� innings of shutout relief in Game 2, Sevano ends the SOC slate having allowed one earned run in 48 innings pitched, an ERA of 0.19. She was 9-0 in league action, going the distance in all seven of her starts and firing five shutouts. "They've been backing me up, and Brittany (Hillyer) behind the plate is just awesome," said Sevano, who was a second-team all-SOC performer last spring. "It's totally everybody else helping me out." Binney and Comets head coach Chris Arnold echoed one another in praising Sevano's intelligence, composure and variance on the mound. "She's not overpowering, but she spots the ball real well," Binney said. "And (senior catcher) Brittany Hillyer calls a real good game behind the plate." Added Arnold, "(Sevano) is a very smart pitcher. Mentally, she's tough. She mixes up her pitches and locations well. ... She's a thinking pitcher." The Comets' Cristofaro, just a freshman, is of that same mold. She flashed the stuff that had her unbeaten on the season in the opener but ultimately fell to 9-1 on Tarkon's title-clinching smash for North. The doubleheader appeared headed for a split when Crater roughed up Tornado Game 2 starting pitcher Krystal Young for two runs in the top of the third. North, however, got to Comets pitcher Bittle with one run in the fourth and another - this one unearned - in the sixth. The score remained deadlocked at 2-all until Tarkon began the bottom of the ninth by drilling a 3-2 pitch to the right-center field gap and sprinting to third base for a stand-up triple. Bittle bore down to strike out Beth Rathburn for the first out and fielded Deni Rowley's bunt cleanly for a chance at the second, but her throw to first base was errant, allowing Tarkon to scoot home with the winning run. Now, Binney, the softball national coach of the year in 1998, will try to bow out by taking the Tornado to a fourth state championship (outright crowns in 1984 and 1997 and a co-title in 1996) during his tenure. "Larry is an amazing coach," said Arnold, who in his first season at Crater. "His aggressiveness and the attitude he installs in his kids puts them in position to win ballgames." North begins the postseason against Sunset, the Metro League's third seed, in a first-round affair at Fagone Field on May 20. The Comets' pair of defeats Saturday dropped them into a tie for third place in the SOC with Grants Pass. Crater will play host to the Lady Cavers in a tiebreaking game on Tuesday. The winner advances to meet the Midwestern League's top seed May 20; the loser plays a subtournament home game next Friday against the Valley League's fourth-place team. Either way, Arnold was encouraged by what he saw Saturday and has seen all season from his young Comets. "We made some mistakes that you can't make over here at North," said Arnold, whose squad committed four errors to the Tornado's zero in Game 2. "But I am excited about the way the kids battled in both these games against a top team in the state, and we're looking to take this and build upon this next week." FIRST GAME Crater ............................................... 000 001 0 - 1 2 1 North Medford ................................. 001 000 1 - 2 6 1 Cristofaro and Thomas; Sevano and Hillyer. W - Sevano. L - Cristofaro (9-1). 2B - NM: Tarkon. 3B - C: Cristofaro. SECOND GAME Crater ........................................... 002 000 000 - 2 8 4 North Medford ............................. 000 101 001 - 3 7 0 Bittle and Thomas; Young, Sevano (3) and Hillyer. W - Sevano (13-1). L - Bittle (8-5). 2B - NM: Paxton. Reach reporter Tim Pyle at 776-4483 or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.