Wayne Spinney
For The New Era
After a ten day rain delay the Huskies returned to their home diamond with a pair of games against Capital Conference opponents last week. On Thursday the boys in gray and green finally got the ten run, shortened game win that Head Coach Dan Tow had hoped for against Sisters, but they gave the Stayton Eagles a gift on Friday by committing seven errors in a seven inning loss.
?After that long lay-off it was nice to return and win one,? said Tow. ?Martin pitched a good game on Thursday. He had command of his pitches and challenged the Sisters? hitters all afternoon long. We show that we can hit and pitch in order to win a game but our fielding let us down against Stayton on Friday.?
Sisters 0 Sweet Home 10
With the outfield still soggy from over a week of rain Coach Tow and his boys became the consummate groundskeepers and had Husky Field looking great for game time. With that they made quick work of the visiting Outlaws, last years league champion, by dispatching them in game shortened by the league?s ten run mercy rule.
Junior Brandon Martin, pitching for the first time since The Huskies last faced Sisters over the pass sixteen days ago, struck out six and only walked one in getting the five inning win. Martin got stronger as the game progressed with five of the last seven Sisters? outs coming by strikeout. In fact, on the last two outs in the Outlaws? fifth inning, Martin froze the cleanup and number five hitters with called third strikes.
?Martin made the pitches when he needed to,? said Tow. ?He had a couple of bases-loaded situations and pitched his way out of trouble well.?
The Huskies were aided by the wildness of Sisters? pitchers and took advantage of three walks in the first to plate four runs on only two hits. Dajon DeMille again led off by reaching base, stealing second (he has over a dozen thefts this year) and scoring the game winner for the Huskies. Travis Smith had a pair of hits from his number three slot in the order, knocked in two runs and scored twice to lead the romp.
Stayton 14 Sweet Home 8
When The Eagles arrived on Friday to finally play a rescheduled and relocated rematch they brought a new starting pitcher and were riding a three game winning streak. They left town with a gift for their starter and a four game winning streak after the Huskies committed seven errors and found themselves playing catch-up all afternoon long.
Coach Tow called on junior Lance Carter to start the game and senior Cody Miller to bail him out in the second inning but the issue was not at all poor pitching for the Huskies. The game was a combination of Stayton playing long ball (they hit two home runs on the day) and the Huskies fumbling and throwing the ball around the infield in allowing ten unearned runs in the loss.
?We battled back all afternoon once we got behind but in this league a team just can?t afford to give away a game by playing sloppy in the field.? said Tow. ?Stayton is a team that will make you pay for your mistakes.?
The Huskies hit the ball well as the top half of the batting order drilled Stayton pitching for ten hits. DeMille, Carter, Smith and Tim Matuszak all collected a pair of hits with Matuszak hitting a blast off the fence for a double in knocking in three runs for the day.
?The top half of the lineup has been hitting well, we can score runs and I think our pitching is pretty reliable,? said Tow. ?We?ll be looking to win at least a couple of games this week in order to stay in the playoff picture.?
This week the Huskies will hopefully have hosted a rain out make-up on Monday against the Indians from Molalla, with games on the road at North Marion and Cascade scheduled for Tuesday and Thursday as well.