{deck}A late Tigard rally comes up short, as Murrayhill wins the district title tilt{deckc}

TIGARD — They got good pitching and solid defense.

They came through in the clutch.

And did they every make things exciting — right down to the very last inning.

The Tigard Tigers, a Little League ages 10-11 baseball team, with a never-say-die attitude, battled strong to the very end before falling 15-8 to Murrayhill in the District 4 Tournament championship game played Sunday at Cook Park.

“I thought we had a great effort,” Tigard’s Bobby Carter said after the championship game. “We never give up.”

“We fought as strong as we could,” Caden Stinson added. “I thought we did awesome.”

For the tournament, Tigard put together a 4-2 record, with both loses being to Murrayhill. Three of Tigard’s victories were by three runs, or less, and the team notched a 6-2 victory over Cedar Mill in the semifinals.

“These guys played great games the entire tournament,” Tigard manager Kevin Stinson said. “We got some great pitching and defense and we had a lot of timely hitting. We also had a lot of two-out rallies.”

In Sunday’s district title game, Tigard threatened to break an early scoreless tie as Griffin Williams doubled down the right-field line to lead off the top of the second inning. But towering Murrayhill pitcher Jackson Barnum struck out the next three batters to end the threat.

Murrayhill then broke through to score six runs in the bottom of the inning, with the big hit of the frame being a two-run triple off the bat of Mason McLaren.

It didn’t take long for Tigard to battle back.

Grant Schaures and Carter drew back-to-back walks to lead off the top of the third inning. Vaughan Williams followed with a bunt single to load the bases with no outs. Stinson then drew a walk, bringing home pinch runner Jake Bullard from third to make the score 6-1.

With two outs in the inning, Manav Raghubansh also walked with the bases loaded, driving in Vaughan Williams to cut the Murrayhill lead to 6-2.

Murrayhill answered right back. Adam Jorgensen, Blake Sims, McLaren and Barnum all had RBI singles in the bottom of the third inning. Murrayhill scored five runs in the frame to push its lead to 11-2.

But the Tigers kept fighting.

Bullard walked to lead off the top of the fourth inning and he went to second on a wild pitch. Carter hit a one-out single to right field, with Bullard advancing to third on the hit. Bullard then scored on the front end of a double steal, making the score 11-3.

Tigard, keeping up its aggressiveness on the base paths, got another run on a double steal, with Carter scoring to trim the margin to 11-4. Stinson then doubled in Vaughan Williams to get the Tigers even closer, at 11-5.

Tigard got a little bit closer in the fifth inning. Raghubansh doubled to the fence in left field to lead off the frame. He ended up scoring from third on a groundout by Mitchell Cross to make the score 11-6.

But Murrayhill was able to pull away again. The team scored four runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to up its lead to 15-6.

Still, Tigard tried to battle back one more time.

Carter laced a ground-rule double to left field to lead off the top of the sixth inning. Vaughan Williams followed with a walk and, one out later, Ian Lewis singled to left field. Griffin Williams then singled to center, driving in both Carter and Vaughan Williams to make the score 15-8.

But Murrayhill, coaxing back-to-back fielder’s choice grounders, got the final two outs of the inning to end the Tigard threat and wrap up its district title.

“It was a great game,” Kevin Stinson said. “Our kids battled to the end.”

“The whole tournament was a lot of fun,” Griffin Williams said.

“We did a lot better this year,” Carter said. “We improved.”

“We took another step,” Bullard said.

Tigard had eight hits in the championship game. Carter and Griffin Williams each had two of those hits while Vaughan Williams, Caden Stinson, Raghubansh and Lewis added one hit apiece.

In the semifinal win over Cedar Mill, Vaughan Williams turned in a complete-game pitching performance.

Other members of the Tigard team include Gus Even, Sam Gerkman and Daniel Howell. Marc Even and Rick Gerkman were coaches with the team.

With the district tournament championship, Murrayhill advances to play at the Oregon State Tournament, which starts Saturday in Hermiston.