2024 Silverton Red Sox Secure Championship with Last Minute Rally to Clinch 40+ Willamette Valley Division Title
Willamette Valley Men’s Baseball League, 40+ Division
Silverton Red Sox 8, Dirtbags 4
The Silverton Red Sox won the 2024 Willamette Valley Men’s Baseball League championship for the 40+ division on August 28 at Volcanoes Stadium in Keizer, Oregon. Entering the championship game as the number two team in the division, Silverton was the visiting team for the championship game against the Dirtbags.
Silverton got out to an early lead but despite stellar pitching by the Silverton ace Stephen Kahn and some spectacular plays by his defense behind him, the Red Sox found themselves trailing 3-4 in the top of the ninth inning. The first two batters were quickly retired by the Dirtbags reliever when Kelly Roth came up to bat with nobody on base. He hit a ball to the shortstop who rushed the throw and the Dirtbags first baseman could not pull it out of the dirt cleanly.
New life and slim hope. Now with a runner on first and still two outs against a formidable pitcher, catcher Robbie DeSantis chose this moment to crush a triple to left field and tie the game. Stephen Kahn, Aaron Kerner, (who had suffered a leg injury the at-bat before) and Derrick Neely followed with doubles. Carl Tiller and Alton Rossman capped off the late inning magic with singles. Add it all up and you get a 5-run, two-out rally.
Aaron Miller came in to relieve Kahn, who had pitched a beautiful eight innings. The first Dirtbag hitter sent a ball hard to the right center gap, but it was tracked down and caught by Tiller. A tough 6-3 out by Roth to Kevin Palmer, and a fly out to James Nobles in left and the Silverton Red Sox secured their fourth championship since the franchise was established in 1992 as a 30+ team, and their second since moving to the 40+ division.
This win capped off an epic 10 game winning streak for Silverton who had suffered losing records for the past three seasons and who had lost to the Dirtbags in every encounter until this year.
This wild ride for Silverton initially got off to a rough start with a 4-10 loss to the Mariners followed by a 4-6 heart breaker loss to the Dirtbags. Once this team settled in and the players learned how to unlock their strengths as a group there was no stopping the Red Sox. This team was defined by a tenacious offence that every member of the staff contributed to over the season. In fact, we had 14 players bat over .300 for the season and three who hit over .600.
Some of the standouts were Derrick Neely (RBI Leader), Aaron Kerner, (led the team in doubles and triples) and Steven Kahn (home run leader) who routinely supplied power in their at bats.
Kelly Roth showed a knack for always getting on base (.677 Avg), Chris Tiller, who hit well and infuriated the other teams on the basepath with his speed, and Robbie DeSantis who happened to be placed in the 3-spot in the order during our fist game due to a late scratch by another player, and then hit like a ‘3’ hitter in that spot the rest of the season. Mike McDowell also batted over .400 with eight RBIs while playing most of the season with a leg injury.
The second hallmark of this team was a defense that had a knack for robbing the opponent of hits in big situations. I have lost count of the hits robbed by Chris Tiller in center field and the diving plays made by the infield. Kevin Palmer and Louis Tiller consistently tackled errant throws to first, securing outs and giving the rest of the team confidence to throw even when they were better off just “eating it.”
The two of them even combined for 9-3 putouts (on throws from Carl Tiller) four times over the season. Those kinds of momentum-shifting plays became a signature of this team. Paul Hernandez made some notable plays at both third and second to shift the momentum of some key games. KC Ridgeway caught when Robbie was unavailable and played solidly in the infield.
This team also featured elite pitching lead by Steven Kahn, with crucial relief appearances by Aaron Miller who commuted several hours every game night to play for Silverton, Danny Tewes who was limited by shoulder pain this season but had been a keystone to our pitching staff the year before, and Carl Tiller.
This was a special team, the core of which was made up of Player/Manager Kevin Palmer (batting over 300), his wife Stacy who was our official scorer and biggest supporter, and centerfielder Seve Heilman who batted (who batted .571) have both been playing on the team since 1992.
Louis (Lou) Tiller, Aaron Miller (dominant pitching), Alton Rossman (.556 avg), Rudy Garza (batting over .400) and Micheal McDowell (playing all infield positions and hitting clutch all year) joined the team in the early 2000’s.
Joining the team in the last three years were two of Lou’s three sons, Carl and Chris Tiller, who now have the special privilege to make every game a father/ son game. As Chris Tiller put it, “baseball is in our blood and that is all thanks to our dad, he’s the reason we play.” Lou has had to adjust his role some in the last decade due to injury. A natural Righty, he was forced to convert to throwing left-handed in his 60’s due to repeated shoulder surgeries on his throwing arm. This necessitated a change in position from primarily middle infield and catcher to primarily first base (though he still straps on the gear when we need an emergency catcher).
Most would have hung up their cleats, but Lou put in years of hard work to teach himself how to throw adequately with his off hand and to gain exceptional glove skills with the glove. This kind of dedication was an inspiration to the younger players on the team to persevere through everything on the diamond and never count themselves out.