T-Hills 13s fall short at state tilt

An upset by Snake River Valley ends the team’s state championship run

By Miles Vance

The Beaverton Valley Times, Jul 29, 2010

Miles Vance / Beaverton Valley Times

SHOUT OUT — Tualatin Hills’ Rob Valentine shouts to a teammate after scoring against Union County.

HOOD RIVER – The fact that everything started so well for the Tualatin Hills Babe Ruth 13-year-old all-stars made the way it ended just that much tougher to take.

Tualatin Hills, already a district champion, entered the North Oregon State Tournament in Hood River with its sights set on winning the state title. And after going unbeaten in three pool play games, it looked like Tualatin Hills was well on its way.

But Snake River Valley crushed Tualatin Hills’ hopes in dramatic fashion on Friday, upsetting the American Division champion 3-2 in the tournament quarterfinals. Snake River entered the contest at 0-3 and as the fourth-place team from the four-team National Division.

We played “the No. 4 from the other pool,” said Tualatin Hills manager Greg Waczak. But “you still have to win to move on.”

“We hadn’t been playing the best teams, but we knew it would get pretty tough,” said pitcher/catcher Parker Stidham.

Snake River held out its No. 1 pitcher from pool play and got a great effort from him against T-Hills. Still, the Beaverton stars led 2-1 going into the bottom of the seventh inning, but gave up two runs to SRV in its final at-bat — buoyed in part by a key Tualatin Hills error — to fall 3-2.

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