by Hinsa » Wed May 28, 2008 12:08 am
Central Valley-Hillsboro: Tom Riske, .370, 4 doubles, 2 triples, 2 homers, 21 RBIs; Matt Schmitt, .351; Jake Olsen, .345.
Pitching; Schmitt, 5-0, 3.09 ERA, 29 Ks, Jake Olsen, 4-1, 4.60 ERA, 29 Ks.
Valiants rely heavily on solid pitching and good defense. When they play D they are really tough. When they kick the ball around they don't have the offense to compensate. A bunch of good pitchers but no shutdown ace. They would do well in a double elimination format where their pitching depth would show, but in a do or die format like at state an ace could take them out.
Best thing this team has going for it is that it knows how to play under pressure. They took out perennial favorite Thompson in the region semi, then beat Hatton-Northwood twice after getting bombed 15-3 in the first game of the best-of-3 final. Came back in the top of the 7th in each of the next two games with 2-run rallies to win by indentical 5-4 scores.
Twins and Vikings Forever!