Local baseball teams chasing championships this summer

WEST LINN, Ore. (KPTV) - FOX 12′s Nick Krupke goes around the bases with a few local ball teams who are proud to call themselves champions with bigger goals on the immediate horizon.

It is a never-ending summer on the diamond for a lot of local baseball teams, like the 10U Cal Ripken Regional champs from West Linn who are bound for the World Series in Crown Point, Indiana.

“In the beginning of the season we said, ‘We’ll make it to the World Series,’ and it paid off,” said Gaege Peng, player for West linn.

The young Lions roared through state and regionals with a perfect 12-0 record.

“Basically we have two teams, one team who is asleep and doesn’t play well and then we have a team that the dugout roof is blowing off and we’re awake hitting, fielding, pitching great,” Peng said.

The 11 dudes from West Linn will begin their world title run on Aug. 3.

“We’ve been fundraising money over the weekend and we don’t want to let those people down and not waste their money to get us to the World Series,” West Linn player Zyler Harvey said.

The Murrayhill Little League boys begin their regionals quest in San Bernardino on Saturday. They’ll need three wins to make the Little League World Series in Williamsport, PA.

Up a level are the Babe Ruth 15U Regional Champions from Portland who will soon jet to Jamestown, New York and the Babe Ruth World Series.

“Now we have won regionals, the first ever Portland team to do that, it means everything to be able to represent my city, represent my friends and family in going to New York,” said Silas Combs, Franklin High School sophomore.

The 13 member Rose City-raised group is ready for their World Series close-up.

“A lot of us have never been to the East Coast before, we’ve never really been on a plane and traveled anywhere to play baseball, and so it’s really just a cool experience to go out there for 10 days and try to win a World Series against some of the best competition in the nation,” said Roscoe Mithoefer, La Salle Prep sophomore.

The core collection of hard ballers have been reaching for this moment for years and now it’s time to lock-in to the 10-team field starting Aug. 13 in western New York.

“We are just trying to put Portland on the map, you know?” said Joaquin Goodlow, Grant High School sophomore. “Like the Northwest, we don’t get that much attention for baseball.”

Turning our attention to the American Legion ranks, the Portland Barbers are strutting and cutting to regionals this week in Gillette, Wyoming.

“I was telling some of my teammates before, I had never experienced a dogpile and experiencing a dogpile was a fun experience for sure,” said Austin Wolfe, Mountainside High School class of 2023 graduate.

The Barbers are the first Portland-based AAA club to capture the state crown since 1988.

“A memory I will remember forever. Tell my kids that, tell grandkids and all that, to just have that means a lot to us,” said Eric Altmark, Mountainside High School class of 2023 graduate.

SEE ALSO: Bend North little league now northwest regional champions

The 19-and-under Barbers need five regional wins to earn to cut above and advance to the American Legion World Series in Shelby, North Carolina.

“We Portland boys kind of know how to play and we play good against anyone else. We show up 110% every time so it’s really nice to win with a bunch of dudes rather than lose,” Cameron Masters-Doble, Lakeridge High School class of 2023 graduate, said.

Good luck to all repping the Beaver State and the Pacific Northwest.

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