The Henley Hornets eliminated Sweet Home Wednesday, May 22, from the state playoffs in softball, winning 3-2.
The Huskies faced Henley in the first round of state playoffs following a 6-0 win in the state play-in round against Douglas.
“It was OK,” said senior first baseman Megan Graville. “It was just the fact we made it that far was good. Just too bad we didn’t come out on top. It was fun. It was competitive. We tried our hardest.”
The Huskies scored their first run in the top of the third when Katie Virtue singled on two outs. Graville followed up with a double to score Virtue.
The Hornets scored their first run in the bottom of the inning.
In the fifth, Virtue and Graville repeated their previous performance, Virtue singling and Graville doubling to score her.
Virtue also recorded one more hit on the game.
Henley scored again in the bottom of the inning and then again in the sixth on a single followed by a double on two outs.
“It was amazing,” Graville said. “She (Virtue) did her job as leadoff. She always does good, though.”
All runs were earned, said Coach Gary Barr. The Huskies had two errors, but neither impacted the game substantially. Henley had no errors.
“It was a good game,” Barr said, and it came down to hitting. He estimated it would take nine or 10 hits to get the win. The Huskies had only five.
Sweet Home has been working on its hitting game, and the team’s batting average has increased to .325 from .276 in the beginning of the season.
“They just had more hits than us,” Graville said. More hits would have helped.
“We didn’t get as many hits as we might have liked,” Barr said. “Henley’s pitcher (junior Kelly Scott0 was throwing pretty hard, I thought, and really hitting her spots well.”
She was hitting the inside and outside corners on demand, he said, and threw in the upper 50s along with a couple of 60s. She gave up five hits and two walks, striking out four Huskies.
On the other side, Emily Marchbanks “pitched one of her better games of the year,” Barr said. She gave up six hits and no walks, striking out seven Hornets.
“They were probably the most solid team we played all year,” Barr said. “It was one of those games that could have gone either way.”
“Just making it to playoffs was my biggest goal,” Graville said. “We accomplished a lot. It was a good game. It’ll be memorable.”
Henley went on to face Banks on Friday and lost 7-0.
Banks is probably going to be the 4A champion, Barr predicted.
Elsewhere in the Sky-Em League, Molalla defeated Sisters in the first round 4-0. Elmira defeated Phoenix 8-7 and then lost to Newport 8-2. Junction City lost 8-3 to Stayton in the play-in round.
In the semi-finals, Gladstone was scheduled to face McLoughlin and Newport was scheduled to face Banks on Tuesday, with the championship game set for Saturday.
“We made a lot of progress in three months,” Barr said. The Huskies’ batting average improved, and their defense improved too, cutting errors from three or four per game to two.
It’s only three months in the season though, Barr said. “To become really good softball players takes more than a varsity softball season.”
He is hoping his returning team members dedicate themselves to the sport throughout the year, playing summer and fall softball and taking pitching and hitting lessons. He is offering private lessons at a discount through his business.
Sweet Home has 10U, 12U and 14U teams right now, he said, but it doesn’t have 16U or 18U. Two players are on teams outside of town. Marchbanks is playing on a Sherwood team, and Virtue is part of the Oregon Fury 16U team led by Central High School’s coach. That team went to the national championship last year.
The team loses seven seniors, including a couple of critical players; and the team will have two or three positions it needs to fill next year, Barr said.
Leaving the team this year are Graville, Kelli Fanning, Hailey Hummer, Shantel Pitts, Kaitlyn Lucero, Nicole Bell and Kacie Mauch.