Live at class 2A/1A baseball finals in Salem

Live writers notebook from the OSAA class 2A/1A baseball championship game at Volcanoes Stadium in Salem-Keizer.

UVC  101 000 0 - 2 7 2

Union 000 100 0 - 1 4 1

Amazing run by the Bobcats. Great season by a pretty young squad. Younker named UVC player of the game and Billman named Union's player of the game.

Bottom of the seventh: This is what it's all about. Last three outs for the Bobcats. Their 7,8,9 hitters in starting with Stout. Stout grounds out to the shortstop. Kimball steps in. Kimball goes down swining. Jordan Brown the last hope. Strikeout. Game Over.

Top of the seventh: Top of the order coming in for the Monarchs. Michael Graham reaches first. Isaac Graham bunts him to second with the sacrifice. Younker steps in. He ahs walked, singled and tripled. Younker hits a hard chopper to Langford and he throws him out by half a step. Graf flys out to deep centerfield and Brown catches it. No runs, no hits, no errors with a runner on third left. UVC 2, Union 1.

Bottom of the sixth: Six more outs for Union. The Bobcats have their 4,5,6 hitters coming up. Now is the time. Graf now the pitcher for UVC. Woodward swings at his first pitch and hits a slow grounder to the third basemen and is thrown out. Moore up. Moore hits a grounder under Graf's glove then grabbed by the shortstop and thrown out at first. Stuckey swings and misses. Three more outs for Union. UVC 2, Union 1.

Top of the sixth: Union has had so many close finishes recently can the Bobcats pull of one more from behind. No. 5 hitter Stone hits a bloop to Davidson at second. Forrester hits one just out of the infield Davidson dives but can't grab it. Stout picks it up and throws it to second just behind the tag of Forrester. Close call there. Mitchell Graham bloops one into centerfield. Woodward left that curveball a little high in the zone there. Runners at the corners with one out. Schultz hits a shot to Billman, well fielded and thrown out at first. Runner advances to second. Now at second and third. Wheeler flys out to Stout in shallow right. UVC 2, Union 1.

Bottom of the fifth: Top of the order for Union is 0 for 8 so far. Langford hits a bloop over the first base glove. Billman steps in. Langford thrown out trying to steal second. He went in standing up if he slid he may have had it. Billman flys out. Warren in. Isaac Graham runs in and grabs a fly in centerfield. UVC 2, Union 1. Union has had chances but are not capitalizing on them.

Top of the fifth: Woodward on the mound. Deep triple from Younker off of the wall in centerfield. But Woodward strikes out the next batter for the third out. UVC 2, Union 1.

Bottom of the fourth: Jordan Brown hits a deep double for the Bobcats. Then Moore follows with a deep single. Moore scores on a hesitant run from third to home plate. UVC 2, Union 1.

Top of the third: Wheeler hits a shot shallow right and Stout grabs it. Billman then leaves one up and Michael Graham gets the first hit of the game with a deep home run to left. Billman picks up a bunt and throws out Isaac Graham. Younker reaches on a hit through the third and shortstop gap. Younker then steals to second. Third hit of the game as Graf reaches on a hard hit grounder that was knocked down by Woodward. Younker now on third. Two outs as Poor goes out to talk to Billman. Ground ball played well by Langford for the final out. UVC 2, Union 0.

Bottom of the second: Woodward hits a shot to the shortstop, takes a bad bounce and Stone bobbles it. Woodward advances on the error. Moore hits a deep foul, but good contact. He then lays down a bunt and advances Woodward. Stuckey steps in a barely gets a piece of it but Younker can't pick it up and Stuckey gets to first on the error. All he had to do is tag Stuckey. Woodward on third now. Stout appeared to get hit by the pitch but the umpire said he didn't attempt to get out of the ball's way and it will only be counted as a ball. Stuckey steals to second. Stout goes down swining. Kimball lines one back to Younker he couldn't grab it, but Stone makes an incredible bare-handed play at second grabbing the ball and throwing out Kimball at first. UVC 1, Union 0.

Top of the second: Cloudy and cool weather right now. The stadium sits 4,500 and has two decks. The bottom level is pretty full. Forrester hits a deep shot to left field but just shy, the Bobcats dodge a bullet there. Strike three on the outside corner. Mitchell Graham advances on a walk. The eight hitter, Schultz steps in. Schultz hits one way back to the warning track luckily there is no wind for it to carry and Moore catches in. Odd base running call as Graham didn't tag up on the fly, I think he could have advanced to second. Bottom of the order and Wheeler at the plate. Billman catches Graham leading off and that's the third out. UVC 1, Union 0.

Bottom of the first: Younker on the mound and he's stretching out his right leg. It appeared he tweaked it on his steal to second. Langford hits a grounder to the third basemen and gets thrown out. Younker's thrown two wild pitches but no one has been on base. Billman flys out to the first basemen. Warren flys out to right field. Younker has a pretty nasty curveball. It worked the strike zone during the inning. Union goes down in order. UVC 1, Union 0.

Top of the first: It's been 38 years but welcome back Bobcats. Billman on the mound ready to pitch to Michael Graham. Great grab for Langford at third throws to first for an out. Wow great dive and grab by Langford. Isaac Graham hits a slow bouncer under Woodward's glove he runs all the way to second and dives under the tag. Alert play by Graham. Runner steals on wild pitch to third. Younker steps in. There is a considerable amount of foul territory here at Volcanoes Stadium. It should play well for the pitchers today. Ball four to Younker, runners at the corners. Younker steals to second. Graf sends a sacrifice fly to right field which brings in Graham. Stone flys out to Stout just in foul territory. UVC 1, Union 0.

6:10 p.m.: I'm not sure the last time Union has played a baseball game under the lights but they are on here in Salem. The line-ups are being announced and the national anthem is about to be sang. There are a few more Monarch fans than Union, but I'm sure the Bobcat supporters will be loud. Umpqua Valley Christian is starting the Class 2A player of the year Bo Younker on the mound.

6 p.m.: We're about 15 minutes away and here's the line-ups ...

Umpqua Valley Christian (Visitors) (27-3): 1. M. Graham (C) 2. I. Graham (CF) 3. Younker (P) 4. Graf (2B) 5. Stone (SS) 6. Forrester (RF) 7. Mit. Graham (1B) 8. Schultz (DH) 9. Wheeler (LF) ** Lum (3B)

Union (Home) (21-1): 1. Langford (3B) 2. Billman (P) 3. Warren (C) 4. Woodward (SS) 5. Moore (LF) 6. Stuckey (DH) 7. Stout (RF) 8. Kimball (1B) 9. Brown (CF) ** Davidson (2B)

5:45 p.m.: I just heard some pretty funny stuff here in the press box. A young man leans back and says, "Where's Union?" Another guy responds, "I have no idea." Then another guy says, "I'm pretty sure its The Dalles." The another chimes in, "No, no it's past La Grande." That's when the first guy leans forward and whispers to the guy next to him, "Where's La Grande?"

Well, Union is now on the field warming up and got a pretty good applause from its crowd. A good contigent of Bobcat fans made the trip. The delay definitely gave the Union softball fans time to get here from Corvallis. 

5:30 p.m.: Just announced we'll throw the first pitch at 6:15 p.m. The anticipation continues to mount.

5:15 p.m.: Willamina just won the 3A final 14-9 in 11 innings. The game took 3 hours and 43 minutes. The teams played four times during the season and Westside Christian easily won all four so this was a shocker.

Union wouldn't mind pulling off a shocker in the 2A/1A final and will get to play a few innings under the lights. First pitch will be around 5:50 p.m. I just talked with the Bobcats' head coach Greg Poor and he is definitely anxious to play. Assistant coach Eric Cooke said the players are excited and ready to play. Union is warming up in left field right now and Umpqua Valley Christian is stretching in right field.

5 p.m.: Don't worry folks I am here. I actually got here at 4 p.m. from Corvallis. The Class 3A final between Willamina and Westside Christian is in the 11th inning. Willamina scored 8 runs in the top of the 8th and seemed to finally end this game. But then they gave up three and now have two outs, so I think we are almost done. Then there is a 35-minute mandatory break between games. I'll post the line-ups between games to kill some time.