Warrenton baseball starts playoffs with a win
With a league title in the bag, Warrenton High School baseball turned the page to a new chapter in their season: playoffs.
Wednesday’s game against Yamhill-Carlton was the Warriors opening-round test with a return trip to the quarterfinals on the line. Behind Talon McGrorty’s complete game and an eight-run third inning, Warrenton beat the Tigers 11-1.
The game was the second time in two weeks Warrenton and Yamhill-Carlton faced each other. The Warriors won a high-scoring affair 13-9 back on May 9, and Wednesday saw a return to form for Warrenton as their pitching led the way.
The Tigers mustered just two hits against McGrorty and scored one unearned run on a fielding error. Fatigue played a factor for Yamhill as they had only one pitcher available due to playing a game on Monday.
Warrenton took advantage of Kyle Slaters tired arm and scored eight runs in the bottom of the third to put the game away. Kaison Smith’s two hits and three runs batted in paced the offense for Warrenton. Smith’s third and final RBI was a single down the first base line to give Warrenton the coveted 10 run lead to end the game after six innings.
“We got after things at the plate, Talon was tough on the hill so it was a pretty solid performance,” Warrenton head baseball coach Lennie Wolfe said. “We played them not too long ago so we had a pretty good idea of how to deal with each kid. Talon did a nice job sticking to the plan and Tyson (McGrorty) did a great job behind the plate.”
With the win, Warrenton returns to the same spot they exited last year. According to Wolfe, how the quarterfinal game against South Umpqua ended a year ago is something that has stuck with the kids and he knows they are focused on finishing the job this year.
“The last time we played in the quarters we were half an inning short of where we wanted to be,” Wolfe said. “We lost the lead in the bottom of the seventh and the guys have thought about that the whole year. It’s in our heads that we need to finish, so need to take care of business during the game and finish.”
In order to advance past the quarterfinals, the Warriors will have to do it without McGrorty as he will be unavailable due to the amount of pitches thrown in Wednesday’s game.
The Warriors were scheduled to play Valley Catholic on Friday afternoon.
