North Medford baseball coach Kerry Curtis, right, talks with players during a recent game. The Black Tornado's split Friday against Grants Pass kept them third in the SWC standings.

With such a logjam atop the Southwest Conference baseball standings, sometimes it’s the little things that can sway the pendulum when it comes to wins and losses.

Sometimes, it can just be a matter of getting more of a barrel on a pivotal pitch.

In the case of North Medford’s baseball team Friday, that little bit of good fortune came and went in the most critical of moments during its home doubleheader against SWC-leading Grants Pass.

The Black Tornado used a bases-loaded drive to the outfield in the opener to secure a walk-off victory in a 4-3 triumph over the Cavemen, then saw the same setup fail to produce dividends in Game 2 after Grants Pass turned a game-ending double play in the bottom of the seventh to secure a 7-5 triumph.

“That’s just the way it goes,” said North Medford head coach Kerry Curtis. “It was two good baseball games that we played well against the top team in the conference right now. They came up short in the first game and we came up short in the second game, that’s kind of the way the game is sometimes, unfortunately.”

The key matter for North Medford, however, is that it inched closer to securing an automatic berth in the Class 6A state playoffs with the Game 1 victory.

The Black Tornado (15-7, 9-6 SWC) remained third in the conference standings, albeit with little wiggle room with a one-game advantage over Roseburg — which is upcoming on the schedule — but still one game within second-place Willamette (14-7, 10-5) and two games of Grants Pass (12-8, 11-4).

“We’re still in a good spot,” said Curtis. “Our objective now is to be in the top three and get that bid to the playoffs, and then the season starts over. We’ve got four games to finish out the season and if we take care of business we’ll be there, we know that.”

North Medford was well on its way to victory in the opener, building a 3-0 lead through five innings, before Grants Pass was able to tack on two runs in the sixth inning and tying run in the top of the seventh.

The game had been a pitcher’s duel to that point, with the Tornado’s Colton Morgan posting six strikeouts with two walks and six hits allowed in 6 ⅓ innings and GP’s Luke Morgan fanning 10 with eight hits and one walk allowed in his six innings.

Instead of getting down over losing its lead, North Medford responded in instant fashion in the bottom of the seventh as reliever Cole Carnes hit leadoff batter Jeremiah Robbins and then walked Kellen Willer to provide hope.

After Carnes was able to generate a strikeout, Joey Newberg kept the Tornado moving with a single to center field that loaded the bases for Dominic Daffron. The junior shrugged off three prior strikeouts in the game against Morgan and instantly greeted Carnes with a sacrifice fly that brought Robbins home with the game-winner.

“We chatted before that (at-bat) and what we told him is, hey, look for a pitch that you can drive to the outfield,” said Curtis, “and I think it was the first pitch and there it goes.”

“It’s awesome for Dom to come through for us like that,” added the coach of Daffron, who is hitting .294 this spring. “As coaches, we have a lot of confidence in him. He’s got a really nice swing and when he hits the ball, he generally hits it pretty hard.”

That same good fortune didn’t make its way to Newberg in the bottom of the seventh inning in Game 2, when North Medford matched Grants Pass’ production with two runs in the bottom of the frame off two errors and had the bases loaded for more before Troy Osborne was able to induce a textbook 6-4-3 double play on a grounder by Newberg.

“We had the opportunity and we were right there with the bases loaded and Joey Newberg up, who has been hitting the ball well for us, too, with his recent opportunities,” said Curtis. “I wanted it for him and wanted it for our team and, you know, we came up short. That’s just the way it goes.”

Frankie Rutigliano, Easton Curtis and Willer each connected for two hits in Game 1 for North Medford, while Morgan was 2-for-4 with two runs and one RBI to lead the effort in Game 2.

For Grants Pass, Carnes was instrumental in salvaging a split by going 3-for-4 with one run and two RBIs in the nightcap, while Morgan and Nathaniel Bassett each had a pair of hits with one RBI.

FIRST GAME

Grants Pass 000 002 1 — 3 6 1

North Medford 101 010 1 — 4 9 1

Morgan, Carnes (7) and Osborne; C. Morgan, Pettersen (7) and Robbins. W — Pettersen. L — Carnes. 2B — NM: Rutigliano. 3B — NM: Rutigliano.

SECOND GAME

Grants Pass 200 030 2 — 7 11 3

North Medford 110 100 2 — 5 7 1

Osborne and Valenzuela; Daffron, Baker (7) and Robbins. W — Osborne. L — Daffron. 2B — GP: Valenzuela, Bassett, Carnes, Osborne; NM: C. Morgan. HR — NM: Robbins.

ASHLAND 9-10, SPRINGFIELD 2-0: At Ashland, Logan Trivette capped off a strong doubleheader by Ashland with a one-hit shutout in the nightcap of the Midwestern League doubleheader at North Mountain Park.

Trivette struck out nine and walked one in the five-inning Game 2, with Keller Bloodworth supplying a bulk of the offense by going 4-for-4 with four RBIs as the Grizzlies (12-7, 9-3 MWL) boosted their winning streak to 10 games.

Jackson Rosenthal combined to go 5-for-7 with six runs scored and two RBIs in the twin bill, while Bloodworth and Anthony Albano each drove in a pair of runs in the opener.

FIRST GAME

Springfield 001 010 0 — 2 5 4

Ashland 112 230 x — 9 10 0

Leas, Bullock (5) and Letsom; Rosenthal, Oakley (4) and Albano. W — Oakley. L — Leas. 2B — S: James; A: Shrader, Rosenthal.

SECOND GAME

Springfield 000 00 — 0 1 2

Ashland 103 24 — 10 8 0

A. Rhoades, Moore (3), Bergen (4), C. Rhoades (4) and James; Trivette and Albano. W — Trivette. L — A. Rhoades. 2B — A: Bloodworth 2. 3B — A: Rosenthal.

Softball

NORTH MEDFORD 6-14, GRANTS PASS 5-4: North Medford senior Presley Lawton combined to go 5-for-8 with three runs and four RBIs in leading her team to a Southwest Conference sweep and the Black Tornado’s fifth win in a row.

Senior ace Gabbi Urban struck out 12 and allowed six hits with three walks in the opener for North Medford (16-7, 11-4 SWC). Two of those walks and a pair of two-out errors made for an interesting close to Game 1 as Grants Pass scored four unearned runs in the frame, but Urban was able to erase further damage with a game-ending pop-up to shortstop Natalie Tlascala.

Gia Rutigliano highlighted the opener with an RBI triple to finish 2-for-4, with Jaycee Russell-Tyler and Luci Roberts also collecting a pair of hits.

Maili Hamlin went 2-for-5 with two runs and three RBIs in Game 2, with Tlascala and Luci Roberts each posting two hits and one RBI for the Tornado.

Grants Pass (7-14, 4-11) got a solo home run from Alexis Heuberger in the nightcap, while Brooklyn Kuykendall and Atianna Vainuku-Johnson each notching a pair of hits in Game 1.

FIRST GAME

Grants Pass 000 100 4 — 5 6 2

North Medford 012 210 x — 6 13 2

Kuykendall and Vainuku-Johnson; Urban and Lawton. W — Urban. L — Kuykendall. 2B — GP: Vainuku-Johnson; NM: Lawton 2. 3B — NM: Rutigliano.

SECOND GAME

Grants Pass 000 31 — 4 4 7

North Medford 315 32 — 14 14 1

Kuykendall, Montejano (4) and Vainuku-Johnson; Roberts and Lawton. W — Roberts. L — Kuykendall. 2B — NM: Rutigliano, Hamlin. HR — GP: Heuberger.