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South tips Pioneers, goes 3-0 in tourney Empio fires two-hitter for Panthers Chris Empio put his bid in for top pitcher on a loaded South Medford staff Wednesday at Miles Field. The senior hurler went the distance Wednesday, giving up just two hits and walking one while baffling Oregon City batters all day during the Panthers' 2-1 victory in the Asante Diamond Classic. South finished with a tournament-best mark of 3-0 and upped its season record to 4-1. Empio held the Pioneers at bay until the Panthers' struggling offense got going in the seventh inning. With the score knotted at 1-1, Tony Conklin picked up the game's only extra-base hit, a double, to lead things off in the seventh. Jimmie Maddox moved Conklin to third with a bunt single and, with one out, Clint Roderick walked to load the bases. One out later David Thrapp ran the count full before providing the game-winning RBI on a free pass. The Panthers were the aggressor on the basepaths, picking up six stolen bases, but couldn't come up with the big hit to put the game away. "The kids were really frustrated today," South Medford coach Pete Whisler said of his team's inability to produce more runs. "We were chasing a lot of pitches out of the strike zone and going after unhittable breaking balls." Despite the offensive struggles early this season, pitching and defense have been winning games for the Panthers. "We've been playing very solid on defense," said Whisler. "Today, we made a number of great plays in the field. "Our pitching is what I'm most pleased with this early in the year. We've only given up one earned run in the last four games." Senior shortstop Brett Haag led South offensively with two hits and two stolen bases. Thrapp kick-started the Panthers' offense early with a leadoff single in the first. He moved his way around to third and scored on an RBI groundout by Conklin, staking South Medford to a 1-0 lead. Oregon City tied the game in the fifth and the score remained knotted until the game-ending walk in the seventh. Haag and catcher Chuck Shine were rewarded for their all-around efforts by being named to the All-Tournament team. South Medford plays host to Sheldon in a doubleheader Saturday at Miles Field starting at noon. Oregon City ........................000 010 0 -- 1 2 1 South Medford ....................100 000 1 -- 2 7 0 Moray and Fisher; Empio and Shine. W -- Empio (1-0). L -- Moray. 2B -- SM: Conklin. CORVALLIS 3, NORTH MEDFORD 2 -- At Miles Field, Oregon State-bound Jake Postlewait limited a North Medford offense that had put up 62 runs in its previous four games to just two in the Asante Diamond Classic. Sophomore Brent Kircher, who relieved starter Josh Bottjer in the sixth, gave up two consecutive singles to start the bottom of the seventh. After Kircher recorded the next two outs, Dan Moody ended the game with a game-winning single to left. The Black Tornado finished with the second-best record in the tournament at 2-1 and placed Colby Gonzales and Ken Halpin on the All-Tournament team. Postlewait went the distance, striking out seven and walking only one for Corvallis. He also led the Spartans with three hits in four at-bats. Kircher picked up the loss for North Medford (4-1). North Medford ................000 002 0 -- 2 4 1 Corvallis ........................100 100 1 -- 3 10 1 Bottjer, Kircher (6) and Halpin; Postlewait and Sedlacek. W -- Postlewait. L -- Kircher (2-1). 2B -- C: Postlewait, Sedlacek. CRATER 10-11, SILVERTON 0-0 --At Central Point, sometimes a group as talented as the fifth-ranked Crater baseball team needs to check exactly how deep it can dip into its roster. Wednesday was one of those times, and the answer came back with disturbing clarity for the other Southern Oregon Conference teams as Crater's No. 4 and 5 pitchers tossed shutouts to sweep Silverton. Senior P.J. Pardee allowed four hits with four strikeouts and one walk in winning the first game in six innings for the Comets (5-0). Sophomore Derek Petersen allowed two hits with five strikeouts and two walks in the five-inning nightcap. Casey Campbell hit his third homer of the season, a two-run bomb in the fourth, to help Pardee's cause, with Kenny Strait capping a 2-for-3 effort with a two-run homer in the sixth to end the game. Pardee went 2-for-2 with an RBI. Robbie Williams provided the hitting heroics in the second game, going 2-for-3 with five RBIs off a bases loaded double in the second and a two-run single in the first. Strait added two more hits for the Comets, who take on Jesuit today at 4 p.m. FIRST GAME Silverton ..................000 000 -- 0 4 3 Crater .....................004 402 -- 10 7 0 Brucker, Munson (3) and Hamilton; Pardee and Hinojosa. W -- Pardee (1-0). L -- Munson. 2B -- C: Overstake, Pardee. HR -- C: Campbell (3), Strait (1). SECOND GAME Silverton .......................000 00 -- 0 2 2 Crater ..........................351 2x -- 11 9 0 A. Albright, C. Albright (2), Ort (3) and Hartman; Petersen and Hinojosa, Sills (4). W -- Petersen (1-0). L -- C. Albright. 2B -- C: Campbell, Williams. ASHLAND 15, ROOSEVELT 1 -- At Ashland, Mike Allen and Jason Schroeder combined to hold Roosevelt to two hits in five innings as the Grizzlies prevailed in the Ashland Tournament. Allen pitched the first four innings and Schroeder nailed down the game in the fifth. The pitching duo was aided by a balanced hitting effort by the Grizzlies, with Ashland scoring 15 runs on 17 hits. Titus Weston, Noah Hartzell, Bill Rowe, Tyson George, Allen and Aaron Rouse each had two hits for the Grizzlies (2-1). Ashland continues its tournament action today against Clackamas at 3 p.m. Ashland ..................500 37 -- 15 17 2 Roosevelt ...............000 10 -- 1 2 7 Allen, Schroeder (5) and McGuire; Strong, Toeman (3), Marx (5) and Wood, Linville (5). W -- Allen (1-0). L -- Strong. 2B -- A: Noah Hartzell 2, Smith, Rouse, Tor. George. CASCADE CHRISTIAN 20, DAYS CREEK 6 -- At Days Creek, Don Jenkins was the winning pitching and he went 5-for-6 at the plate, drove in four runs and scored three times to lead unbeaten Cascade Christian to the non-league victory. Jenkins worked the first five innings and came back in the seventh as the senior right-hander limited Days Creek to three hits and struck out nine. The Challengers led 7-4 after six innings before exploding for 13 runs in the seventh. Kyle Stutzman helped the Cascade cause by going 3-for-5 with two RBIs. Cascade Christian (3-0) plays host to Class 2A state power Salem Academy at noon today at the V.A. Domiciliary in White City. Cascade Christian .............220 021 (13) -- 20 17 3 Days Creek ........................000 004 2 -- 6 3 5 Jenkins, Newfield (5), Jenkins (7) and Roberts, Stutzman (7); Dunn, Sands (6), Brown (7) and Hilderbrook. W -- Jenkins (1-0). L -- Dunn. 2B -- CC: Jenkins 2, Roberts 1. Softball McNARY 2-1, CRATER 1-0 -- At Central Point, the Comets continued their hard-luck ways, allowing only three runs but still getting swept in a non-conference doubleheader. Crater (0-4) has allowed five runs in its four games, and has fallen short in each contest. Andrea Perdue allowed six hits but only two runs in the opener, and helped account for Crater's lone run of the doubleheader in the sixth inning. After a leadoff single by Brandy Wolter, Perdue smacked a one-out single and Shauna Stinmetz followed with an RBI single. In the second game, Leanne Foster allowed only four hits over seven innings but was still saddled with the loss. FIRST GAME McNary ................000 200 0 -- 2 6 4 Crater ..................000 001 0 -- 1 4 2 Atwood and Stapley; Perdue and Ridge. W -- Atwood. L -- Perdue (0-2). 2B -- M: Hess. SECOND GAME McNary .............000 001 0 -- 1 4 1 Crater ...............000 000 0 -- 0 5 1 Gomez and Hess; Foster and Ridge. W -- Gomez. L -- Foster (0-1). 2B -- C: Ridge. Today's Edition : News | Sports | Business | Weather | Tempo | Classifieds Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA