By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
EUGENE, Ore.– It was one of those rollercoaster-type games for the Post 58 Crushers Thursday morning at the Papa’s Pizza Tournament at North Eugene High School.
The Crushers came out firing on both sides of the ball, building a 6-2 lead going into the bottom half of the fourth inning against the Post 33 Chugiak Mustangs. The Mustangs, an American Legion squad from Anchorage, Alaska, rallied and eventually took an 8-6 lead going into the sixth inning.
But. With their backs against the wall, the Crushers responded.
The end of the game heroics has been Post 58’s calling card this Summer with them winning games late. And Thursday was just another example of that as they would regain the lead in the sixth inning, Silverton’s James Collier tied the game up with a two-run triple and that was followed-up by a Wyatt Postlewait (Silverton) sac-fly that handed the Crushers a 9-8 lead going into the bottom half of the inning.
Sawyer Enderle (Silverton), who came in for relief of Kennedy’s Brody Panuke in the fifth inning, held Chugiak scoreless in the bottom of the sixth inning. It gave the Crushers an opportunity to add to their lead, something that they did thanks to a steal of home by way of Oliver Hunt (Stayton) that gave Post 58 an 10-8 lead in the seventh.
The lead held strong as the Crushers closed out the 10-8 victory to even their Papa’s Pizza Tournament record at 1-1 in Eugene.
“It was really up and down. We were leading for a while, and it felt like we had that in the bag. We had to clutch up and finish them,” said Collier. “It’s great, it’s great for the team, it helps with team chemistry. That’s just the game of baseball. Come up, clutch, and win a ballgame.”
The Crushers return to North Eugene High School on Wednesday when they’ll play the Rose City Cardinals in Game 3 of Pool Play on Friday. Sprague’s Owen Zerr led the Post 58 offense with two hits and two runs driven in, Collier also drove in two runs for a Crusher offense that collected seven hits. Panuke struck out five batters in four innings while Enderle struck out three batters in three innings of work.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
