Document text
South hands No. 1 Crater first loss By RANDY HAMMERICKSEN CENTRAL POINT -- With the afternoon sun finally popping through the clouds, Chuck was primed to shine. Chuck Shine, South Medford High's catcher, did just that Saturday, crashing a two-run home run with two outs in the top of the seventh inning to carry the Panthers to a 4-3 win over top-rated and previously unbeaten Crater in the second game of a Southern Oregon Conference baseball doubleheader at Anhorn Field. Crater won the opening game, 6-1, behind left-handed pitcher Casey Campbell, who allowed one unearned run on on just four hits and struck out eight. In the seventh inning of the second game, Shine had just taken a strike from Crater reliever K.J. Chubb, and the Panthers were down to their last out -- and their last strike -- when Shine turned around Chubb's fastball and sent a deep drive into the wind in left-center field. "I don't remember having a game-winning hit before in my whole life," said Shine, smiling. "I don't want to sound cocky, but I had a good feeling that I was going to hit the ball hard into the gap. I wasn't nervous and I felt confident. "I thank the Lord for giving me the strength to do it. To beat the No. 1 in the state on their home field, where they are very tough, is big for us. I like pressure situations like that." Shine's blast enabled the Panthers to even their SOC record at 4-4 and improved their overall mark to 10-5. Crater fell to 5-1 and 15-1. "We settled down and got a couple of balls to fall and made plays when we needed to in the second game," said South Medford head coach Pete Whisler. "In the first game, we made a lot of errors that hurt. But our pitching kept us in the second game and gave us a chance to win." South Medford had to rally twice late in the game to eventually get the win. In the sixth inning, the Panthers scored two runs on consecutive doubles by Shine, Matt Skundrick and Brett Haag to tie the score at 2-2. Crater responded with a run in the bottom of the sixth for a 3-2 lead. Chubb singled, Ryan Gipson walked and P.J. Pardee singled to right field to drive in the run. Chubb retired the first two South hitters in the seventh, and he was one out from the victory. But when Matt Smith worked Chubb for a walk, Shine had his chance to hit. "You can see how strong Chuck is," said Whisler. "He hits that home run into the wind, which was blowing in and toward center field. He hit it hard enough to get it out, anyway." In the first game, Crater scored two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning and three in the fifth to give Campbell a 6-0 cushion. Two Comet errors led to South Medford's unearned run in the sixth. In the fourth inning, Kenny Strate of the Comets was hit by a pitch after Gipson reached first base by hitting into a fielder's choice. Pardee's infield single scored Gipson. The second run was recorded when Strate stole home. In the Crater fifth, Chubb and Gipson singled in runs. The Comets got their third run of the inning when Chubb and Gipson successfully negotiated a double steal. Jeremiah Toews and Chubb led the Comets in the first game with two hits apiece. "I thought we played pretty well in the first game, and Casey pitched a good game," said Crater coach Chuck Dominiak. "In the second game, we wasted too many opportunities. "We left 14 runners on base, and you can't do that and expect to win. But it wasn't because the kids weren't trying. That's baseball, and they'll bounce back." FIRST GAME South Medford ...................000 001 0 -- 1 4 6 Crater ..................................010 230 X -- 6 8 3 Empio, Skundrick (4) and Shine; Campbell, Chubb (7) and Hinojosa. W -- Campbell (6-0). L -- Empio (5-2). SECOND GAME South Medford .................000 002 2 -- 4 5 0 Crater ................................001 011 0 -- 3 11 0 Conklin, Skundrick (6) and Shine; Foster, Chubb (6) and Hinojosa. W -- Skundrick (2-1). L --Chubb (5-1). 2B -- C: Chubb; SM: Skundrick, Haag, Shine, Thrapp. HR -- SM: Shine. Today's Edition : News | Sports | Business | Weather | Tempo | Classifieds Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA