Gazette-Times

The Corvallis Nationals heard their coach loud and clear before Tuesday night’s Little League District 7 11-12 championship game at Crystal Lake Sports Complex.

The result? Corvallis jumped out to 4-0 lead in the top of the first inning and never looked back, defeating West Salem 10-0 in four innings.

“We talked before the game that our goal was to get 12 hits off their starting pitcher,” Nationals coach John Kinkade said. “We got 13 hits off him in four innings. So we are pretty proud of that.”

With the victory, Corvallis advances to the state tournament which begins Saturday in Pendleton. It will play District 2 champion Hermiston at 10 a.m.

The Nationals’ early offensive outburst was a welcome sight to Kinkade, who was disappointed by his team’s slow start in Monday’s win over the Corvallis Americans. In that game, the Nationals didn’t break the game open until the fifth inning.

That wasn’t the case on Tuesday. Two RBI singles extended the lead to 6-0 in the third. The Nationals followed that up by scoring four more runs in the fourth innings on two run-scoring singles, a sacrifice fly and a wild pitch.

“Yesterday, we left a lot of kids on base,” Kinkade said. “But today we came through with strong hitting. Just putting the ball in play is what we wanted to do and we did that.”

Starter Walter Brattain retired the side in order in the bottom fourth to complete a strong strong start.

“Walter is throwing aces,” Kinkade said. “He’s hitting his spots, has a good change-up and a great curveball right. I couldn’t ask for more from him. He was perfect.”

Kinkade said he likes his team’s chances at the state tournament because they are in a good pool and a lot of teams they have played in the past are on the other side of the bracket.

“Anything can happen in one game,” he said. “But we have as good a shot as anybody, maybe even better than some of the teams.”