One community expects its team to reach the state final every year. The other hasn’t seen its high school baseball team advance to a title game since 1956.

That is just one of many differences between Sisters and The Dalles, as the two prepare to meet for the Class 3A state baseball championship Saturday at Volcanoes Stadium in Keizer.

The Outlaws to some are a bit of a surprise to be playing for the championship. But the club is grateful for the opportunity to prove it belongs in the title game.

”I’ve talked to a lot of people who are calling us underdogs,” said Sisters coach Ray Garretson. ”I don’t mind the underdog role, but I don’t think my guys feel like underdogs.

”In our league (the Capital Conference) we drive by that stadium a lot,” Garretson said of Volcanoes Stadium, which sits on the west side of Interstate 5, just north of Salem. ”I’ll bet we all glanced over at it wondering if we could get there this year.

”The only people who probably thought we could were these kids.”

Not that the Outlaws didn’t have a chance.

The junior-laden team was expected to be good – but maybe not this fast.

Last season’s squad that reached the second round of the state playoffs relied on its senior-dominated pitching rotation. This year’s young, inexperienced staff – Mike Greene is the lone senior hurler – developed more quickly than anticipated.

”I thought we could be a good playoff team,” said Garretson. ”But to think we would be going to the big dance’ would have been a dream for me.”

The last time Sisters played for a state baseball title was in 1956, when the community’s old high school existed. That school closed in 1967, and the community didn’t have a high school of its own until the current campus opened in 1992.

The Dalles, on the other hand, is a perennial state powerhouse. The Indians are the defending champs and are bidding for their fourth state title in six years.

The Dalles is making its ninth championship game appearance in the past 12 years.

”With the success we’ve had over the years, that’s always our No. 1 goal: to get back there to the state championship game,” said Steve Sugg, who has been the head coach at The Dalles since 1993.

”We won the state championship last year, and a lot of those kids who played on that team are back.”

The Indians are led by senior catcher/outfielder Blair Wilkins, the co-player of the year in the Tri-Valley League who, according to Sugg, will be named the Class 3A player of the year next week. Wilkins, a four-year starter at The Dalles, is batting .493.

Sugg said he plans to start Dallan Labrum, a 6-foot-10 right-handed pitcher who earned first-team all-league honors in the Tri-Valley, on the mound. The senior is 7-2 with a 3.05 ERA and two saves.

Seniors Nathan Guard (4-0, 2.25 ERA) and Mike Vareberg (7-1, 2.79 ERA) are available to provide relief help.

Pat Burke, the Capital Conference player of the year, takes a .500 batting average into the title game for Sisters. The junior catcher/pitcher has a team-high 10 home runs and leads the Outlaws with 48 RBIs.

Junior third baseman Matt Harp is batting .435 and has 38 RBIs.

Garretson said he will go with Evan Livsey as his starter. The junior right-hander is 9-0 this season and sports a 2.12 ERA.

”We haven’t lost a game all year with him starting,” said Garretson. ”His No. 1 goal is not to give up the big inning and let the guys around him make plays.”