baseball

Steelheads shut out North Valley to win Memorial Day tourney

Submitted photo – The Steelheads players and coaches celebrate another tournament championship over the weekend.

The Northern Steelheads 10Us continued their impressive run with another tournament championship over the weekend.

The local travel baseball club rolled over North Valley 11-0 in the championship game at the Medford Memorial Day Tournament to cap another big weekend and see them close out tourney play with five wins in five games.

Pitcher Tatum Brock and catcher Gavin Smith helped set the tone in the final and combined to allow just one hit in the shutout victory.

Earlier in the day, the Steelheads defeated Cottonwood Crush 4-2 in a competitive semifinal.

The hard-hitting Cooper Jones had the hot bat for the team all weekend and finished with four doubles, while the versatile Asher Kapko showcased his talents and helped set the tone on defense by recording outs at seven of the nine positions.

Head coach Nate Combs described Kapko as a “true utility player.”

Crew Hicks also impressed and hit his third home run of the year early in tournament play, leaving him just one behind team leader Jacob Carper, who has one of the most dangerous bats on the team.

The semifinal was a competitive game.

Grady McConnell got the start on the mound for the Steelheads and held the Crush to just two runs in four strong innings.

At the plate, the Steelheads started slow but grew into the game, with a fourth-inning lead-off double by Hicks helping to get the offense going.

He would score moments later on an RBI sac fly by Carper.

With the game tied at 2-2 in the fifth, Jones led off the inning with another double, before back-to-back singles by Kaydee Carper and Maverick Utt would score two runs and give the Steelheads a lead they would not relinquish.

Reece Combs took over on the hill in the sixth and threw a pair of three-up, three-down innings to secure the win.

Casanova Marshall also had a good weekend and played a key role defensively with some big plays at shortstop.

The tournament championship follows recent tourney wins for the team at the March Madness tournament and the Spring Fling tournament.

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