The 4A state softball tournament has four teams left, and Cascade is one of them after defeating the Huskies 4-0 in the first round of bracket play at home on May 23.
Cascade took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning after Sommer Coleman hit a triple.
A pitchers battle, it was three up, three down most of the way to the fourth inning when Megan Graville singled on two outs and stole second. Emili Riggs and Megan Rubidoux walked to load the bases.
In a similar position to the Huskies’ last outing against Stayton when she scored runs, Sierra Thayer was next at bat; but Hannah Ganfield struck her out. Cascade’s Kristin Taylor singled to reach base, and Coleman hit a sac bunt to move her to third. Graville struck out the next batter, and with two outs, Cascades Morgan Hunter knocked the ball up the third base line, bouncing the ball off the tip of Rubidoux’s glove to score Taylor and the second run of the game.
The Huskies had another shot at scoring in the top of the sixth when Hailey Hummer reached third base. Riggs hit the ball to the ground on the left to Cascade’s third baseman, trapping Hummer between third and home.
Cascade scored two more runs on Sweet Home errors in the sixth to close out the win.
“It looks like we played Cascade a little better than their next opponent,” said Coach Casey Humphrey. Cascade, the state champion for the last two years, beat Madras 5-0 and has advanced to the semi-finals. Cascade, ranked second, was scheduled to play top-ranked Henley on Tuesday. The winner advanced to the championship and will face Banks or Mazama on June 2.
“We obviously never feel good after a loss,” Humphrey said. “But I think we had a great season. I think we played a pretty good game. I was ready for that one big hit, but id didn’t quite come through for us.”
The girls competed well with opportunities to score, he said.
Graville pitched to Riggs in this game, striking out two, walking none and giving up eight hits.
Ganfield pitched to Cassie Lund, striking out seven and giving up two walks and four hits.
At bat, Hummer, Graville, McKenzie Cochran and Caytlin Gillespie each had a hit.
Overall, Humphrey is pleased with the season, he said. “We did have a lot of wins, but we don’t base it off of wins and losses.”
The team improved all season long, from a 10-0 loss to Newport at the beginning to a showdown with one of the top teams in the state in playoffs, he said. The Huskies handled Stayton during the play-in round, and it came down to Cascade.
“That’s a good spot,” he said.
Sweet Home 000 000 0 – 0 4 1
Cascade 100 102 x – 4 8 0