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WHAT A GREAT YEAR!
The 2006 season was a great one for the North Salem Vikings from the very beginning. The team starting coming together right after the first of the year with returning players Braden Lee, Jordan Rodriguez, Jon Munson, Cole Ferguson, Sam Velasco and Kyle Ludwig. These returners were sooned joined by Spencer Blackman, Austin Hamilton, Matt Loberg and Garret Emerson. Just before the start of the season, former players Avry Holmes and Jamie Hoffman rejoined the team to fill out the roster.
The 2006 team was a very young team sporting only two 8th grade players, eight 7th graders and two 6th grade players. By contrast, most teams in the Senior American Division had a majority of 8th graders and two teams in the Valley District were exclusively 8th grade teams. One of those teams had four players who were beyond the age limit set by JBO, but were allowed to play as they were still in the 8th grade. Competing against older and bigger kids was nothing unusual for the Vikes, competing against more talented teams was.
The Vikes began their season in Redmond on April 8th when they participated in their first "American Level" tournament. The Vikes went 3 and 2 in that tournament defeating the High Desert Heat, a Federal level team 13-5.
Next came the Banks Tournament and the Vikes continued their education completing the four game tournament with 2 wins and 2 losses. There were some very good teams in this level and the experience was piling up fast.
League play began on May 16th with a narrow win over Stayton followed by another win over Keizer #2 to begin the season 2-0.
On Friday, May 19th the Vikes played in the first round of the Keizer tournament under some very odd conditions. Kiezer had decided a win and loss record was not important; only how many runs you could beat a lesser team by. Dispite the fact the Vikes went undefeated in pool play, they were not included in the championship game. Keizer, oddly enough, was the benefit of some really fortunate team pairing and won their own tournament. The Vikes took home a fourth place trophy.
Over the Memorial Day Weekend North Salem traveled to Redmond, Oregon for the Chuck Bafaro High Desert Classic. They ended up with a 4-1 record and what they considered a great road trip.
Sunday, May 28th marked the last day of the Bafaro Tournament in Redmond and the beginning of an incredible winning streak. The next loss the Vikes suffered was on June 27th after an incredible 15 game win streak and 20 wins out of the next 21 games!
During that win streak was a tournament championship in Molalla as the Vikes defeated Sellwood of Portland, Sandy, Oregon City and then a very good Molalla team to take the first place trophy.
The weekend of July 1st saw North Salem in the Jefferson Tournament where they reached the championship game to fall to a non-JBO club team from St. Helens.
The Vikes wrapped up the invitational tournament season in Sweet Home for the Sportsman's Weekend Tournament. After defeating Yamhill-Carlton, the Vikes lost to Sandy in a particularly poor effort and finished third in the tournament by beating host Sweet Home for the trophy.
Meanwhile in league play the Vikes finished 14-2 and moved into the District Playoffs. After defeating Sweet Home from the southern division, the Vikes lost to Kiezer #1 and then beat West Salem to capture the the #3 seed from the Valley at the State Championships.
On Monday, July 24th the Vikings played a double header in Canby for the right to advance to the double elimination portion of the State Tournament. North Salem defeated Coos Bay 15-1 in the first game and then took on a tough Mt. Hood team. The Vikes spotted Mt. Hood five runs in the first inning on only one hit, but came back to take the lead by the 7th inning. With one out in the top of the 7th Mt. Hood put three hits together including a triple that scored the tying and the eventual winning run. Our season was over.
The 2006 North Salem Vikings are a team to be proud of. They compiled an overall record of 43 wins against 13 losses, placed in four tournaments including a championship in Molalla and advanced from the district playoffs into the State Tournament for the first time in the history of the team. 10 of the 12 players will be eligible to return to the team next year, and that bodes well for the 2007 season.
Congratulations to the 2006 North Salem Vikings!
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North Salem Vikings, Junior Baseball of Oregon
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