La Pine mows down Warrenton 8-1 for 2nd straight state title

One thing for sure came out of La Pine’s solid 8-1 victory over Warrenton in the championship game of the OSAA/OnPoint Community Credit Union 3A baseball tournament at Volcanoes Stadium on Friday:

The Hawks will never get away with pleading a rebuilding year again. Ever.

This La Pine team entered this particular season largely overlooked by just about everybody. They lost dearly from last year’s powerhouse state champions. They had only four starters back, had no veteran pitching, and only two seniors.

Adam Plant was not one of them. He was a fill-in right-handed pitcher as a sophomore last year, and at that was the best the Hawks had coming into this season.

And yet, when the Hawk ballers gathered at Ponderosa Pizza in La Pine to talk about this year…

“We knew people were talking about us and doubting us,” he said as the happiness buzzed around him. “But this group has been playing together all our lives. We went to two state championships in Little League.

“We were in the shadows at the start of the year, but we thought we were going to be OK.”

Plant was superb for the Hawks. He threw all 105 pitches for the Hawks — 70 of them for strikes — scattered seven hits, struck out nine and walked only one. The one run he gave up in the fourth inning was unearned.

“That,” he said of his MVP performance, “was pretty much the best I can do.”

By that fourth inning, La Pine had a 6-0 lead and was not in very much danger at all.

Read more at: http://www.osaa.org/today/article/871/view?title=3A+baseball+final%3A+Rebuilt+La+Pine+is+champion+again