Local teams roll on the diamond

The Astoria baseball boys continued their scorching play on the diamond, the Warrenton boys shut down baseball’s top ranked team in 2A, while Seaside and Knappa baseball teams continued league play.

Astoria boys move into playoff position

Astoria’s baseball boys are on a heater right now.

After two clutch victories against Tillamook, the Fishermen have catapulted themselves into second place in the Cowapa League. Currently, that is good enough for Astoria to make the postseason since the top two teams from each league receive automatic qualifying berths.

Since their 3-1 loss to Seaside on April 20, the boys have won six games in a row. This has moved their record up to 9-10 overall and 3-3 in league play. Also, the Fishermen are now ranked No. 14 in 4A.

The two biggest wins of the year for Astoria came in the last three play dates.

Astoria won the season series against Tillamook after defeating them 5-1 last Friday and 3-1 on Monday. In both games, the Fishermen got clutch pitching and timely hitting.

Friday was a joint effort on the mound by senior pair Dallas Norris and Joey Gramlich. Norris pitched five shutout innings, before Gramlich replaced him and got the final six outs. In total, the pair gave up just four hits and struck out eight.

Gramlich led the way at the plate with a 2-2 day. He added a walk to reach base on all three of his plate appearances. Norris and Izaac Crawford batted in the other two runs for Astoria.

Monday was another gem by Norris.

The senior doubled back and pitched a complete four-hitter game. Norris allowed just one run in his seven innings and out pitched Tillamook ace Kevin Hurliman.

Sam Schacher had another good day from the leadoff spot as he knocked in one of the two runs. Schacher went 1-3 with an RBI and was joined in the hit column by Sam Mather, Gramlich, Colt Kelly and Archer Hawkins.

With the Fishermen currently in playoff position, they will look to keep their momentum up against rival Seaside. The two teams were set to finish off their three game series with a pair of games on Wednesday and Friday.

Warrenton boys grind out wins

The last two wins didn’t come easy for Warrenton, but the Warriors did enough to close the deal.

Warrenton defeated 2A No.1 Kennedy 2-0 last Friday behind a pitching masterpiece from Aaron Neahring. The junior went a full seven innings, allowed just four hits and struck out four in his shutout. Neahring also knocked in the only two runs of the game for Warrenton with a single in the top of the third inning.

Monday, the Warriors grinded out a win against Neah-Kah-Nie.

The Pirates have already pulled one major upset this year and looked poised to pull another on Monday.

Neah-Kah-Nie trailed by just one run going into the sixth inning, but Warrenton found a way to get two runs across to make the gap 4-1. Eli Neahring shut the door and Warrenton would take home a 4-2 league victory.