Any concerns that “Taft got the shaft” would become the battle cry throughout Lincoln City were quelled late Saturday with the announcement that the top-ranked Tigers have been seeded No 1 in next week’s Class 3A State baseball championships.
No. 1-ranked Taft High, playing night after night with a target on its back, got struck in the bull’s eye Thursday in squandering an eight-run, seventh-inning lead to fall 9-8 to Santiam Christian in a league home playoff loss that broke the Tigers’ 16-game winning streak.
The No.-1 ranked Taft High baseball team posted some gaudy numbers this season – the most important, of course, being 12-0, the team’s perfect record in winning the West Valley League regular-season championship.
Three Taft High pitchers split time on the hill, and senior centerfielder Caleb King dove home two runs with three hits Tuesday to lead the Tigers to a 6-1 victory over Salem Academy that closed out the regular season.
The undefeated West Valley League champion Taft High baseball team put the finishing touches on a 12-0 conference season Wednesday with a 14-4 victory at Dayton.
Conference champion Taft High used a 12-strikeout, two-hit shutout from junior left-hander Bleiz Kimbrough to move within a victory of completing a perfect West Valley League baseball season Tuesday by downing Willamina, 9-0.
No. 1-ranked Taft High turned yet another page toward the conclusion of a storybook season Friday by winning a league baseball championship for the first time in 34 years.
Cody Knott had four hits and six RBIs, and Caleb King and Jack Stempel combined on a one-hitter Tuesday as the No. 1-ranked Taft High baseball team moved to within a victory of the West Valley League championship by trouncing Amity 23-0 in five innings.
First baseman Jack Stempel drove home three runs, including one in the bottom of the first inning behind winner Caleb King, to get No. 1-ranked Taft off and running to its 11th straight victory -- 11-1 over fifth-rated Horizon Christian/Tualatin.
Junior reliever Bleiz Kimbrough made the most of a rare start Tuesday with a one-hit, 10-strikeout road shutout of Sheridan for Taft High’s 10th straight victory and seventh in a row shortened by the state’s 10-run mercy rule.
