>La Grande Observer | Union and Wallowa Counties' News Leader

SOARING EAGLE: Senior Corby Makin was 3-for-4 (two doubles). The Observer/BRUCE MASON

Were those hardballs, mitts and caps? Or were those footballs, shoulder pads and facemasks?

The scoreboard read, 14-0. The playing surface was mostly grass. Were those touchdowns? Extra points?

No. They were runs. This was baseball. But the result sure looked like an optical phenomenon was occurring at Daggett Field, like football was being played.

Kennedy strolled into Joseph Friday, clipping the hometown team, 17-5, ending its OSAA playoff opener with an early onslaught, and now, these Eagles are extinct.

“I think (we) were just trying too hard in the first two innings,” Joseph coach Tony Gross said. “Too many errors.”

Too many runs, too.

Kennedy scored nine in the first, five in the second, and led by a two-touchdown margin before Joseph even recorded a base hit.

Pitch. Ping! Kennedy scores.

Pitch. Ping! It scores again.

It was so lopsided, that after two innings, a Kennedy coach was already talking about building “good habits” toward “another game.”

Ouch.

Nerves? Inexperience? Self-inflicted pressure? Did all of that contribute to this result?

Gross said so. But despite the fallacies, several Eagles performed well, led by Corby Makin (3-for-4, two doubles), Caleb DeBoie (3-for-4, 2 RBIs) and Trenton Neil (double, 2 RBIs.)

They battled to the end, too, scoring four times in the

seventh, never hanging their heads, never giving up.

But the pigskin-like start by Kennedy — helped by three Joseph errors in the first inning – was just too much to overcome.

Season over.

Eagles extinct.

“You just don’t want the year to end,” Gross said. “You want it to continue.

“It’s just unfortunate that it had to end today.”

But how many teams can say they competed in the OSAA playoffs? Wallowa? Imbler? Pine Eagle? Adrian? No. They can’t.

But Joseph can.

So a postseason trip — for an Eagles roster loaded with freshman and sophomores — is a good finish, right?

Right.

“They did a lot this year,” Gross said. “We didn’t start the year on fire, per se, but they started gaining confidence, started figuring things out.

“They’re a good group of kids. They made this year fun.”

Kennedy              950 120 0     —    17 14 3

Joseph                000 100 4      —   5  9  7

 WP — Phillips. LP — Makin.

2B —J, Makin (2), Neil; K, Phillips. HR — K, Allen.