Tiebreaker knocks Raiders out at state

LITTLE LEAGUE — Runs against tiebreaker keeps Reynolds out of the semifinals

By David Ball

The Gresham Outlook, Jul 28, 2010, Updated Jul 29, 2010

David Ball / The Outlook

Reynolds' Micah Huff is greeted at home plate after smashing a line-drive homer over the left-field fence in the second inning of Saturday's 8-6 win over Murrayhill.

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SALEM — The Reynolds Little Leaguers faced a tough test to open the majors (12U) state tournament Saturday, when they faced the storied Murrayhill program out of Beaverton.

But the Raiders stared the monster down for an 8-6 win and didn’t flinch when Murrayhill made a charge late in the game.

Reynolds built a 5-1 lead with Cody Gleason hitting a two-run homer in the second inning, followed several batters later by Micah Huff’s solo line-drive over the left-field fence — a shot that left the yard so quick that the Murrayhill players barely had time to turn their heads and watch.

But Murrayhill roared back with four runs in the bottom of the fifth, tying the game on a grounder by Jacob Calo. The Raiders avoided falling behind when Bailey Patterson struck out the last batter.

Reynolds rallied back in the sixth inning when Gleason sent a bouncer to third base, but beat the throw to give the Raiders a base-runner. Two batters later, Buettner sent a line-drive to left field to bring in the go-ahead run. The Raiders stretched the margin to 8-5 on a sacrifice ground ball by Huff and a blooper by Nick Lear that fell just in front of the third baseman’s glove.

• The Raiders finished pool play with an 11-3 win over the Medford Americans on Wednesday night, leaving Reynolds in a three-way tie in Pool A along with Murrayhill and Pendleton — all sharing 3-1 round-robin records.

The Little League tiebreaker is "runs against" which left Reynolds out of the mix, while Murrayhill and Pendleton advanced to Thursday's semifinals.

Look for an extended story, including highlights from the other pool-play games, in Wednesday's Outlook.