North Valley’s late rally eliminates top-seeded Douglas 5-3 in 3A baseball playoffs
WINSTON — The top-seeded Douglas Trojans baseball team found out the hard way that there’s very little room for error in the playoffs.
Douglas and North Valley went down to the wire in a Class 3A second-round playoff game at Dan Withers Field on Wednesday, but it was the visiting Knights who capitalized on a few miscues in the seventh inning to earn a 5-3 win and a berth in the quarterfinals.
North Valley ended a seven-game losing streak against Douglas, which dated back to 2017. The Knights will face Brookings-Harbor, another Far West League foe, at 4:30 p.m. Friday.
“This is a game of baseball and, especially in the playoffs, you’ve got to play seven innings of baseball. And seven innings of good baseball,” Douglas coach Andy Osborne said.
He gave credit to the Knights, who have won back-to-back playoff games for the first time in more than a decade.
“They did what they needed to do to win. We helped them out a little bit with that big error,” Osborne said.
Tristan Ledbetter and Dane Kissel were in control on the mound for the first six innings.
Ledbetter, the Douglas senior, allowed just one run on three hits for the first six frames. He finished with seven strikeouts and three walks.
Kissel pitched the entire game for North Valley and surrendered just one run on three hits over the first six innings. He recorded six strikeouts and two walks while picking up the victory.
The game took a turn in the seventh inning. The Knights broke a 1-1 tie with four runs on just one hit, three walks and two errors.
Ledbetter was relieved by Evan Martin after issuing a leadoff walk. Martin nearly got the first out on a sacrifice bunt attempt, but it was a bang-bang play at first and a slight bobble by first baseman Colby O’Toole allowed the hitter to reach safely.
A walk by Martin loaded the bases and he was relieved by Tyson Schneider, who struck out the first batter he faced.
A one-out bases-loaded single by Jace Elzy scored one run to give North Valley a 2-1 advantage. Schneider got another strikeout, but then issued a bases-loaded walk to give the Knights a 3-1 lead.
The North Valley streak should have ended there, but a misplayed grounder at shortstop and a rushed off-target throw to second base allowed two more runs to score, pushing the lead to 5-1.
Schneider finished the frame with his third strikeout of his appearance.
Douglas was facing a deep hole to climb out of to keep its season alive and the Trojans rallied two score on a wild pitch and on a groundout, but Schneider was struck out looking to end the game and the season for the top-ranked Trojans.
“I told the kids they have nothing to hang their heads over,” Osborne said. “They battled. They achieved what they achieved, it wasn’t given to them. They earned it. The number 1 spot.”
Ledbetter took the loss for Douglas.
Elzy and Landon Allison had singles and drove in runs for North Valley.
Cal Robbins, Luke Robbins, Ledbetter and Schneider all had hits for Douglas. Cal Robbins and Ryder Sawyer drove in runs for the Trojans.
Douglas will graduate seniors Brayden West, O’Toole, Martin, Ledbetter, Tyler Waldron and Schneider.
“The seniors, they had a pretty rough four years. I just wish I could have taken them a little bit further,” Osborne said.
He added that the Trojans will have a strong group of returning players and he expects they’ll provide a strong challenge for the Far West League again next year.
N. Valley;000;001;4;—;5;4;3
Douglas;000;100;2;—;3;4;2
Kissel and Brazier; Ledbetter, Martin (7), Schneider (7) and L. Robbins. W — Kissel. L — Ledbetter.
