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News reports
July 29, 2008
After needing a few rallies just to get in to the
Junior State baseball tournament, Hood River’s entry was all out
of comebacks by the time the tournament started.
Hood River dropped its first two games in the
double elimination tournament, falling to West Salem 7-3 in the
first round and then losing 12-3 to Sprague in the first round
of consolation play.
Against West Salem, Hood River led 2-0 heading
into the bottom of the fourth inning but West Salem came up with
four runs in the inning and then added three more in the sixth.
Brandon Nelson drove in a run with a double in
the fifth, but Hood River was unable to catch up.
Sam Kopecky paced the Hood River offense with
three hits and an RBI. Juan Mendiola also contributed two hits
to the Hood River effort.
In the second game, Hood River took a 2-1 lead at
the end of the first inning after an RBI single by Elliott
Sherrell and a sacifice fly by Jimmy Gilkerson, but the Hood
River offensive attack essentially went quiet after that.
Sprague took advantage of nine walks by Hood
River pitchers and seven Hood River defensive errors to score 12
more runs, including five in the seventh, to cruise to the win.
Elliott Sherrell went 3-for-3 with a double, and
Juan Ledezma and Grant Young had two hits each for Hood River.
Hood River coach Chris Albertson praised the work
his team put in over the summer, but expects more hard work
ahead of the start of the high school season in the spring.
As a team Hood River hit .350 over the summer and
averaged 10 runs and 11 hits a game, but Albertson would like to
see the team improve its defense, which proved to be the team’s
weakness in key spots throughout the summer.
Nonetheless, he was happy with the amount of work
the team put in to get to the state playoffs.
“The players played hard all summer and committed
the majority of their summer to improve their baseball skills,”
he said. “They fought through adverse situations and played and
traveled almost every single day since school has been out and
they have done it without complaint and with passion for the
game.”
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