By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
STAYTON, Ore.– The pressure was on for the Monroe/Alsea baseball team to close out Thursday’s 2A/1A Special District 3 League Playoff Title Game at Regis High School.
Regis had the momentum. They had just pulled the game back to within reach. The Rams trailed 9-8 going to 7th and turned a quick defensive inning.
Regis had just clawed back from a 9-3 fourth inning deficit to give themselves a chance when they took to the bats in the bottom half of the seventh inning. Their 15 hits on the day were one of the highest offensive outputs of the season as they looked to complete the comeback.
“We got ourselves in a pickle, but we battled back and it’s something I loved to see. We’ve had 15-plus hits, the most we’ve hit all year. Our big thing right now is working on the mental aspect of the game,” said Regis’ Luke Castillo. “Just playing a Top 10 team going to State and playing them close. Beating them two out of three times in league and giving them a close game with a ton of hits, even though we lost, it’s still a confidence booster. I think we’re ready to go into State, ready to give it our all.”
Castillo was one of six Ram batters who collected two hits on the day. Castillo drove in a team-high three runs, Tanner Lawson and Hayden Lulay each drove in two runs for Regis.
The Dragons were on their heels but turned to Owen Roberts to close out the game. Thursday was the first time he pitched in six months, but he had made the most of his opportunity to close out the save for the League Playoff Championship and for the first-seed out of the league.
In 14 pitches, Roberts turned two strikeouts and a fly out to close out the game to help Monroe/Alsea lock up the top-seed since 2022.
And it’s been a steady climb back up since then. Regis took the third and final Automatic Bid spot out of league from Monroe in 2022. The Dragons finished third last year in league to get back to the 2A/1A State Playoffs. Then, on Thursday, the Dragons won two games to clinch the conference after starting the day with a 10-0 victory over Culver.
“It feels great, I can’t even explain the joy and the amount of joy I had coming off that mound. It felt so good. First league championship since 2022, so I feel super good about that,” said Roberts. “My freshman year, we lost out to Regis. Sophomore year, we finished third, so it feels good to finally beat them and especially come out on top, winning the league championship, all that good stuff.
“We all super get along, super confident in ourselves, great team chemistry. So, I just got to improve on the little things, and it’s all up from there.”
Aidan Strand and Jose Flores each drove in a game-high two runs for Monroe, who finished the regular season 22-8 and 16-5 in league play. Armando Monroy had a team-high two hits for the Dragons.
The Rams wrapped up the regular season 19-8 overall and 17-4 in league play.
