The Portland (Ore.) Barbers looked awfully comfortable at Dehler Park this past weekend, as they won the program’s first ever Legion baseball Northwest Regional title Sunday afternoon. The Barbers of Post 158 are in their 15th season.
“We've seen the ball all year. We're hitting .371 as a team. We broke a team record for team batting average," said Portland coach Joe Duran. "We have some really talented players and we've been seeing the ball well all year long. That's been our strength. Wherever we play, whoever we play against, we're the most offensive team."
The Barbers had to do it the hard way, though, as they lost the tournament’s opening game to Yakima, Wash. Portland then won five consecutive elimination games, including two against Idaho Falls on Sunday, scoring double digits in each contest.
Portland even battled back from an 8-1 deficit after one inning in the first championship game against Idaho Falls, and according to the team’s website it has a record of 44-4 on the season.
“I told the kids, 'One pitch at a time. Trust in yourself and trust in your teammates. If you're not going to do it, then next man will. Just stay the course, win the inning, limit mistakes, don't get yourself out and hit your pitch.' That's what we did," Duran said.
“Everyone's struggling and you need to pick something up. Something has to happen. You've just got to switch something on. Once that switch turns on you get in a groove and keep moving. I think that's what it was, is we turned something on, especially with our hitting, not just our defense. Overall I think we just switched something on," said catcher Dakota Chun, who won the MVP of the regional.
The Barbers are hanging around Billings and will fly out to North Carolina on Tuesday for the American Legion World Series, meaning they’ll be on the road for potentially about two weeks. But Duran confidently packed his suitcase as if that was the plan all along.
“I told my wife to plan on meeting us in North Carolina," Duran said. "I knew we had the talent to do it. I wasn't being cocky, but I was confident. I knew what we had. I've been around a lot of baseball. When you're tough at every spot defensively, deep on the mound and that offensive, you're a hard out."
Portland will play League City, Texas at 4 p.m. on Thursday as they make their World Series debut.
