STANFIELD, Ore. -- The celebration still echoes at Stanfield High School and likely will long past this weekend, when two of the Tigers' seven seniors will play their last games representing the school.
Quin Grogan, whose stellar performance captured the moment as Stanfield won the Oregon 2A/1A state baseball title last Friday, and catcher Derek Monkus will play in the Oregon 1A/2A/3A all-state games Saturday and Sunday at Linfield College in McMinnville.
No doubt the players and coaches still will be talking about Grogan's prodigious production in the semifinal and final games last week.
In Stanfield's 25-8 win over Union in the semifinals, Grogan was 6-for-6 with three home runs -- two of them grand slams -- and 12 RBIs.
Three days later in the championship, he was 3-for-3 with two more home runs, driving in all three of the Tigers' runs in a 3-1 win over top-ranked Portland Christian.
"He did it all for us that game," said Stanfield coach Bryan Johnson, son of legendary Ephrata coach Dave Johnson, whose 663 wins are No. 1 in Washington history.
Grogan also struck out 14 batters and kept some of Oregon's best small-school hitters off balance.
As for 9-for-9 with five home runs and 15 RBIs in the state semifinal and final, Johnson said, "If that's T-ball, that's ridiculous, and he did it against two of the best teams in the state, two all-state pitchers."
Grogan -- who has signed with Blue Mountain CC but also is getting interest from some four-year schools, including Lewis-Clark State -- was one of the returners from last year's team that met a disappointing end in districts following three consecutive trips to state.
"We had one of those really horrible days you have sometimes," Johnson said, adding that it fueled those seven seniors during summer sessions in the weight room and offseason workouts.
"We were trying to go win a league title, district title. But ultimately (state) has been a dream of these boys since Little League."
* Kevin Anthony: 509-582-1403; kanthony@tricityherald.com
