Cowboys earn first victory of summer baseball season - Central Oregonian

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Lon Austin

The Crook County Cowboy baseball team finally has a win.

The Cowboys split with La Pine in a Sunday doubleheader to earn their first victory of the summer season.

“Everyone’s pretty excited,” said coach Frank Martinez about the victory. “We hit the ball really well today.”

The win in the second game of a doubleheader capped a grueling week for the Cowboys, who have played six games in less than a week.

The week started with difficult losses to Madras and Redmond last Tuesday and Wednesday. The losing streak continued with losses to Sisters on Thursday, and a second loss to Madras on Friday.

Sunday’s double header began with another difficult loss, before the Cowboys were finally able to take a hard-fought, 5-3, extra-inning victory over La Pine in Sunday’s nightcap.

“It’s just been a tough week and everyone is tired,” Martinez said. “But we are coming together as a team and we are getting better with each game.”

Thursday’s game with Sisters started promisingly for Crook County. After giving up a pair of unearned runs early in the game, the Cowboys battled back to tie the game with a pair of runs in the bottom of the third inning. Sisters regained the lead with a run in the top of the fourth inning, then scored a pair of unearned runs in the fifth.

Cowboy starting pitcher, Blaine Johnson, was finally pulled after giving up another run in the sixth inning. Johnson gave up just five hits while striking out seven batters during his five and a third innings of work.

The Cowboys were able to get out of the sixth inning without any further damage. However, Sisters took advantage of Cowboy errors and shaky pitching to explode for 10 hits and eight runs in the top of the seventh inning to put the game out of reach, as they rolled to a 14-2 victory.

Friday night, the Cowboys continued to struggle defensively as they fell 8-0 to the Madras White Buffaloes.

“We didn’t do too well,”?Martinez said. “We had too many errors and we didn’t hit the ball at all.”

After giving up three runs in the bottom of the first inning, the Cowboys played solid defense for the next three innings. However, Madras exploded for five runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to put the game out of reach.

Sunday, the Cowboys had a chance to win both games against La Pine. However, after pitching four solid innings, starting pitcher Jeffrey Turbitt suddenly became wild in the fifth inning. Turbitt hit three batters and walked a fourth in the inning. La Pine took advantage, scoring five runs in the inning to pull out a 9-6 victory.

The second game of the double header was another story. Pitching on just two days rest, Johnson was masterful, pitching all eight innings to earn the victory.

In spite of Johnson’s pitching, it still took some extra-inning heroics at the plate for the Cowboys to get the win. Turbitt and Johnson each singled to start the eighth inning. Then Blake Quant calmly stepped to the plate and belted a double to drive in the winning runs.

As if six games in six days wasn’t enough, Crook County still had to play Mountain View in Bend on Monday.

“We are really tired,” Martinez said. “But I’m excited. Our defense is finally coming around and we are just getting better and better.”

Following Monday’s game, the team gets a much deserved rest before going on the road to take on Bend Senior High on Tuesday, July 10. Game time is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.