Sweet Home’s Junior National Green Team, coached by Phil Utter, is headed to Portland July 11-13 for the JBO State Championship Tournament.
The Huskies finished third in the Valley League district championships hosted by Monroe last weekend, June 27-29. In the Valley District National playoffs, the top three teams qualify.
Sweet Home, which finished 13-1 in the regular season to top the 13 teams in the Junior National North division, got off to a rough start with a 13-1 loss to the hosts in its first championship bracket game Friday.
But the Huskies then recovered to beat Jefferson 5-1 and Lincoln City 9-7 before falling again to Monroe 12-2 on Sunday to finish third, while Monroe advanced for a rematch against Central Linn, which won 6-1.
Central Linn advances as the No. 1 team from the Valley League, with Monroe second and Sweet Home Green third.
Also competing last weekend was Sweet Home’s Junior American East team, coached by Travis Johnson, which finished third in Silverton, one game out of making state. Sweet Home lost its opener 5-1 to South Albany, then beat Scio 3-1 to take third.
Newport, which went 15-0 in the regular season, beat South Albany in the final.
