The recent American Legion Single-A State Tournament hosted by North Coos at Clyde Allen Field in North Bend was a big success because of a big community effort.
The Eugene Ole Athletics won the tournament and the Klamath Falls Falcons finished second, with both advancing to the Northwest Regionals in Medford.
“The coaches and players were super well-behaved,” North Coos coach Brad Horning said. “The fans cleaned up after themselves. The umpiring, mixed between Douglas County and the local association was very good.”
In addition, the weather cooperated with sun and little wind and every game of the tournament started on time, Horning said.
A team of 10-12 members from the local American Legion post, led by Kevin Owens, ran the gate and concessions throughout the event.
Three different local students performed the national anthem, all thrilling the crowd.
Opening night, the anthem was performed by North Coos right fielder Alexander Peck, who in the spring became the first solo music state champion for North Bend High School.
The next night, North Bend student Paisley Swanson performed the national anthem with her flute. Her older twin brothers Dylan and Jackson play for North Coos).
The final day, Isabella Gerami “touched everyone’s heart with her anthem,” Horning said.
The crew of Joe Bollig Sr., Jeff Davis, Mike Taylor and Quintin Hall kept the field in top shape and Julie Martin ran the scoreboard, served as announcer and kept the scorebook for the entire 15-game tournament, Horning said.
North Coos won one of its three games in the tournament.
In addition to Peck and the Swanson twins, the North Coos squad included Josh Sullivan, Matthew Swank, Brady Kyllo, Blaze Wheeling, Zac Barnes, Liam Taylor, Tharin Johnson, Brayden Anderson, Colton Sanne, Ethan Hess and Logan Garmon.
North Coos lost its first game to the Columbia River Gorge Hustlers 2-1, bounced back to beat West Albany 8-6 and was eliminated by the Central Point Comets 15-5.
The final four teams of the tournament were Eugene, Klamath Falls, Columbia River Gorge and Central Point. Klamath Falls eliminated both Columbia River Gorge (4-3) and Central Point (5-2) before losing to Eugene 2-1 in the championship game. Eugene also beat Klamath Falls 6-5 earlier in the tournament.
Clyde Allen Field was most recently host to the state tournament in 2018, the first of consecutive years the local team won the event.
The field first hosted the tournament in 1954 when the coach for the team, then called North Bend, was Clyde Allen. The other teams that year were Eugene, Klamath Falls and Myrtle Creek.