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Medford team gets first victory at regional By Chuck Hickey SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. � It�s been a long month for the Medford American Little League team, and it�s showing up in its play. The 11- and 12-year-old all-stars have been home for only three days in the last month because of postseason tournaments, and the time on the road has been taking its toll. But Monday, Medford American scored seven runs in the first two innings, then held on to beat Ketchikan, Alaska, 8-6 in a consolation game at the Western Regional tournament. Medford American can�t win the regional, which determines the West�s entry in next week�s Little League World Series at Williamsport, Pa., because it lost its first two games. The best it can finish is fifth. It plays Coeur d�Alene, Idaho, at 2 p.m. today. Medford American can play through Thursday as long as it continues to win. ``We�ve been away from home for 3� weeks, and it�s taking its toll,�� Medford America manager Jeff Adamson said. ``We went to LaPine for a week for our district tournament, came home for a day, then went to Ontario for the state tournament for a week, then came home for two days. And we�ve been here for a week and a half. ``It�s taken its toll on the coaches and on the kids. But there really aren�t any excuses. We pretty easily could have lost this game.�� But Medford American didn�t. It scored three runs in the first inning thanks to singles by Jared Adamson and Tyler Heil, two walks and a Ketchikan error. In the second, Medford American built its lead to 7-1. Heil had a sacrifice fly, Tommy George had a two-run double, and another run scored on a passed ball. But Medford American�s bats went to sleep after that and the defense fell apart as it committed four errors. Ketchikan scored two runs in the third on two Medford American errors, then pushed across three runs in the fifth by batting around and taking advantage of two more errors. But Ketchikan left the bases loaded in the fifth, and after getting the first two runners on in the sixth, Heil came in and got the final three outs � a grounder and two strikeouts � to end it. Medford American had a hit in each of the last four innings but only scored in the fourth when George doubled and scored on a bases-loaded walk to Zack James. Medford American left 11 runners on base, including the bases loaded in the fourth and sixth innings. ``We really wanted to get a win,�� Adamson said. ``We didn�t want to come down here and go 0-3. We wanted to come out and show that we can compete. I really feel we�re a better team than we�ve been showing. Washington obviously is a very good team, but I felt we were better than Nevada, and we should have won this game a lot easier than we did. ``But we need to play a lot better than we have, or we won�t be playing for much longer.�� Medford American................................... 340 100 � 8 9 4 Ketchikan, Alaska.................................... 102 030 � 6 7 2 Smith, Adams (6), Heil (6) and Happeny; Norton, Henry (3), Thrasher (4) and Quint, White (2). HR �K: Montgomery. 2B � M: George 2. 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