A magical run through the loser’s bracket culminated with West Linn’s Senior Federal baseball team capturing second place Sunday at the Junior Baseball Oregon State Tournament in Forest Grove.

Coached by Rob Cosner, Brett Fritts, Mark Perkins and Jason Porter, the team, consisting of eight eighth graders and four seventh graders, won the Clackamas County regular-season title, going 18-4, but two upsets in the County tournament relegated the Lions to fourth-place status going into state, which necessitated that they play their way into the eight-team, double-elimination bracket. Sparked by the hitting of Brayden Pene, Haven Fritts and Tate Hoffman and the pitching mastery of Daniel Ferrario, West Linn dispatched Lincoln, 12-1, in five innings to snag the final spot in the state tournament field.

The hard-throwing Ferrario also was on the bump three days later when West Linn took on top-seeded Sherwood. The Lions scored first on a Hoffman single in the second and Ferrario was in control most of the way. But too many hard-hit balls right at Sherwood fielders and three late fluke runs by the Bowmen doomed West Linn to a 3-1 defeat.

Facing elimination on Friday morning versus Camas, West Linn led start to finish in a 12-4 win. Will Matthiessen was brilliant on the mound, fanning nine without walking a batter. West Linn hit five balls to the fence, including shots from Chase Cosner and Tim Tawa, and got clutch two-out hitting from Garrison Ritter and Brooks Debisschop.

Facing elimination again on Saturday morning, West Linn used a Ferrario single and bases-clearing double by Ritter as part of a seven-run first-inning uprising against Beaverton. The Beavers fought back to get within 9-6 but Jake Perkins and Tawa threw well over the last four innings to help West Linn nail down the 11-6 win.

That evening, Cosner pitched five strong innings in a 7-1 win over Westview. Westview led 1-0 when Tawa’s throw from center field cut down a Wildcat runner trying to score in the top of the fifth. Energized, West Linn scored four in the bottom of the frame, which was more than enough for the Lions.

With no worse than third place secured, West Linn went hunting for the state championship on Sunday with a pitching staff taxed from playing so many games. Barlow, one of the teams to defeat West Linn at the County tournament, was the first opponent. The game went back and forth – Cosner had a big game offensively for West Linn -- but it was the Bruins who took a 7-5 lead into the bottom of the sixth. With two out, Perkins, who made a brilliant catch in center field two innings before, laced a single to right to start a Lion rally. After Hoffman reached on an error, Ritter singled to center to plate one, then Josh Kurtin launched a bomb to right center to score the tying and go-ahead runs. Hoffman induced two fly outs and a ground out in the seventh to help West Linn nail down the win.

An hour after the nail-biting win over Barlow, West Linn took the field versus a Sherwood team that had played three fewer games in the tournament and had a well-rested pitching staff. The Lions tried to hang in and got some nice defense to keep it close, but tired arms and legs proved impossible to overcome in a 7-0 defeat.

After the game, West Linn players held their heads high, knowing that they had eliminated five of the teams personally before running out of gas.

The same core group that finished second in the state on Sunday also came within a whisper of the Cal Ripken 12-year-old World Series two years ago and within two extra-inning games of qualifying for the Cal Ripken 10-year-old World Series in 2008.