Grizzlies sweep Eagle Point to clinch state playoff berth
Ashland received a career-defining day from Sarah Silbowitz and Bella Pribyl pitched the Grizzlies to a pair of 3-2 victories over Eagle Point to capture a playoff berth on Saturday at North Mountain Park.
Because Crater and Ashland (19-4, 7-3 SSC) are tied for the Southern Sky Conference lead, Eagle Point was eliminated from the postseason. Only two of the four teams in the SSC advance to the state playoffs, and the Eagles (14-8, 4-6) find themselves three games back with two games to play.
Silbowitz, a junior shortstop, came up with perhaps the biggest hit of her career for Ashland in the 10th inning of Game 1.
The Grizzlies' offense fizzled after rolling up two runs in the first inning, but with no outs in the bottom of the 10th, Silbowitz plated Jubilee Sharp from second base with a ground-rule double to give Ashland the victory.
Ashley Josephson had a leadoff home run in the top of the sixth for Eagle Point to knot the score at 2-all.
Pribyl went the distance, surrendering one earned run and six hits to go with eight strikeouts.
Silbowitz also came through for Ashland in the nightcap.
Stephens continued to pitch near-perfect ball for the Eagles, who clung to a 2-0 lead heading into the bottom of the fifth. But after Hayley Ross drove in Drew Van Vleck to put Ashland on the board, Silbowitz's two-run double gave the Grizzlies a 3-2 advantage.
Stephens yielded three runs and struck out three for EP.
Eagle Point 100 001 000 0 "" 2 6 4
Ashland 200 000 000 1 "" 3 9 2
Stephens and Dale; Pribyl and Cantrell. W — Pribyl (17-4). L — Stephens. 2B — A: Silbowitz. HR — EP: Josephson.
Eagle Point 000 110 0 "" 2 10 1
Ashland 000 030 0 "" 3 8 2
Stephens, Hansen (7) and Dale; Ross, Pribyl (4) and Cantrell. W — Pribyl (18-4). L — Stephens. 2B — A: Silbowitz, Van Vleck.
Prep Baseball
At Klamath Falls, Hayden Miller supplied an RBI single in the ninth to lift Ashland in the opener and went 3-for-3 with two runs in Game 2 as Ashland swept Klamath Union Saturday in a Southern Sky Conference doubleheader.
The Grizzlies pulled out the opener 1-0 and won Game 2 5-1.
Ashland's Charlie Sebrell and KU's Jake Waardenburg waged a scoreless pitcher's duel in Game 1 until Owen Baldrica reached safely on a two-out hit in the ninth. Garrett Tygerson then walked before Miller supplied the go-ahead run.
Sam Gaviglio struck out two but gave up a triple to Seth Brown in the bottom of the ninth. After a walk, KU tried to get into a rundown between first and second to give Brown a chance to score, but he was cut down at third to end the game.
Sebrell was 2-for-2 in Game 2 and drove in a run in the second, fourth and sixth innings to pace the Grizzlies.
Ashland 000 000 001 "" 1 5 0
Klamath Union 000 000 000 "" 0 6 0
C. Sebrell, S. Gaviglio (9) and L. Sebrell; Waardenburg and Cox. W — C. Sebrell (8-1). L — Waardenburg. 2B — KU: Aspera. 3B — KU: Brown.
Ashland 010 102 1 "" 5 9 1
Klamath Union 100 000 0 "" 1 5 1
Tygerson, Killeen (5), Gaviglio (7) and L. Sebrell; Brown and Cox. W — Tygerson (1-0). L — Brown. 2B — KU: Whisler, Cox.
College Track and Field
At Klamath Falls, two members of Southern Oregon University's women's track team posted NAIA national qualifying marks Saturday in a nonscoring meet at Oregon Tech.
Stephanie Johnson's winning javelin throw of 133 feet, 9 inches is an automatic qualifier.
Jamie Wells won the pole vault with a provisional qualifying mark of 11-2.
Also for SOU, Breanne Cochran claimed the discus with a toss of 132-2.
Leaders for the men's team were Daniel Ceccehini, who high jumped 6-6 to win; Jeremiah Lewman in the 400-meter intermediate hurdles, whose winning time was 55.85 seconds; and Ryan Musselman, who captured the pole vault at 15-7. Southern Oregon competes Thursday through Saturday in the Cascade Conference championships at Mt. Hood Community College in Gresham.
Sports editor Joe Zavala can be reached at 482-3456 x 224 or joe.zavala@dailytidings.com
