AURORA, ORE. – The Umpqua Lions found themselves in an early deficit against the North Willamette Valley Huskies in the first round of the Class A American Legion state tournament and the hole was too much to dig out of as the Lions lost 10-6 on Wednesday at North Marion High School.
The Lions were held hitless into the third inning by Huskies starter Griffin Henry. Jacob Luther finally got Umpqua’s first hit with a two out single in the third, but the Lions couldn’t muster a run until fifth.
North Willamette Valley built a 9-0 lead off of the Lions and seemed to be cruising going to the bottom of the fifth. The Huskies pulled Henry from the mound to conserve his pitch count for later in the tournament and Umpqua finally started to find some offense.
The Lions got on the board against the Huskies’ relievers with a run in the fifth inning and then added four more in the sixth to trail 10-5 going to the final inning.
The Lions got the first three runners on base in the seventh and scored a run on a single by CJ Gale, but a double-play cut down their momentum and the game came to an end with a man on third.
Zack Holland went 2-for-4 with a RBI and a run scored for Umpqua. Austin Luzier had a two-run triple and went 1-for-2.
Umpqua falls into the loser’s bracket and will face elimination Thursday afternoon in a game against South Medford. First pitch is slated for 2 p.m.
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— 1490 The Score (@KSKRTheScore) October 24, 2024