EUGENE –– For the first time in three years, the Eugene Challengers once again stand triumphant as American Legion state baseball champions. The Class AAA team, composed mostly of players from Springfield and Eugene, beat the Mid Valley Southpaws 2-0 on Wednesday at Swede Johnson Stadium, site of the state tournament and the Challengers’ home field.
Next up is a trip to the regionals in Billings, Mont., next week and then, perhaps, the national tournament in North Carolina.
“I’ll carry this for the rest of my life,” said Grady Saunders, a Thurston High standout. “I definitely learned a lot from the coaches – but I also learned that it’s not all about winning or how you perform. It’s about being gritty and doing everything you can to win.”
Thurston and Pleasant Hill athletes excelled at the game with their teamwork and strategy.
The game started slowly, and was scoreless in the top of the third inning. Caden Richardson hit a single and hurried to claim second base. Thurston’s Easton McDonald broke the impasse as his single scored the Challengers’ first run.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, Saunders led off with a long fly ball that turned into a double. Thurston’s Eli Crist reached first on a walk. Peyton Tyner’s hit resulted in Saunders being tagged out but Crist reaching home plate. Saunders and Tyler each had 1 RBI in the game.
Challengers head coach Kenny Niles is the first to win two state championships. He said that heading into regionals will be different from the experience in 2021.
“I think being in Montana just recently and having some guys that either had brothers on that team or some coaches, I think our team will be a little bit more hungry this time around,” Niles said. “I think maybe the first year, in 2021, we were so excited and took it all in like it was Disneyland where, you know, we were just pretty frantic and all of a sudden we’re like, ‘Oh, we didn’t do everything we wanted to do, you know, we don’t have a plan!’ This group has played 115 games in a row. You know, so there’s some momentum going into Montana now.”
