Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
Just like that, it was over.
One out away from winning the second round of state softball playoffs, the Huskies fell victim to a game-winning homerun that ended a sometimes magical season for Sweet Home.
With two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning, the Huskies led 4-3. Yamhill-Carlton runners were on first and second. A groundball anywhere on the field would end the game and move the Huskies onto the next round of state playoffs.
But Yamhill-Carlton pitcher Ashley Braden stepped to the plate and smashed a three-run homerun over the fence to give Yamhill-Carlton a 6-4 win and eliminate the Huskies from the state playoffs in the second round.
The Huskies intentionally walked another top hitter, Bree Larson, to bring Braden to the plate.
“Any groundball anywhere ends the game,” Coach Steve Hummer said. “And their best hitter was on base. You end up second-guessing yourself. Do you pitch to the Cowapa player of the year who hit a homerun?”
Things looked good for the Huskies, who managed to maintain a lead or at least a tie throughout the game.
With one out, Sara Brocard opened things up in the first inning with a homerun, also scoring Lacey Mink who was walked, for a 2-0 lead.
Yamhill-Carlton scored a run on a double in the second and a homerun by Larson in the third to tie the game. In the fourth, Brocard walked and then stole second and Jessalyn Seiber knocked her in for a 3-2 lead.
Braden scored a runner on a base hit in the fifth to tie the game again. Marchbanks scored the Huskies’ final run in the top of the sixth to take a 4-3 lead.
The game had no errors by either team, Hummer said. “It was just a very well-played game. They just came up with the big hit at the end of the game.”
It was the first time some of the girls had been to a state playoff game, and Brocard thought the team was a little nervous, she said. Her homerun “made me feel like it got everybody kind of pimped up.”
Brocard wasn’t worried during the game, even at the end, she said. “I am confident in our team. When we lost. I almost couldn’t believe it because I was so sure we were going to win. It didn’t sink in right away.”
Yamhill-Carlton is full of good hitters, Brocard said, and Braden caught Marchbanks’ low outside pitch and pulled it to right center. But she never expected the homerun.
“The way it ended and everything, that’s like a heartbreaker situation,” Cliver said, but it was a good game against a good team.
Braden hit a couple of line shots out to center, Cliver said, but she didn’t hit anything really big earlier in the game.
“Pulling that out in the bottom of the seventh, that was the only way she could’ve won,” Cliver said, and if the Huskies had to go out, that’s the best way.
“Before we played them, we thought only their top four girls could hit,” Cliver said. “They were pretty strong through the whole lineup.”
Yamhill-Carlton’s pitching and defense were a little closer to average though, she said.
The Huskies drew into the toughest part of the bracket, Hummer said. It’s set at the beginning of the season, but it ended up placing topt-ranked Umpqua Valley and third-ranked Yamhill-Carlton in the Huskies’ path to the state championship.
In another part of the bracket, Junction City was in the final eight, Hummer said, and the Huskies beat them two of the three times they saw them.
“You’ve got to play the tough teams at some point,” he said. “I wouldn’t change anything. We played our guts out. We didn’t make any mistakes. We just got beat. They were a very good hitting team. They just didn’t quit.”
“I’m really happy with the year,” Brocard said. “We’ve come a long way this year.”
The girls finish with a 17-6 record, and “I couldn’t be more happy with our kids,” Hummer said. “We didn’t meet some of our goals, but it wasn’t for lack of effort. We didn’t quit either.”
He noted great plays around the field, with an over-the-shoulder catch in right field by Olivia Lake, good hitting from Michelle Cliver and Brocard’s early homerun.
Sweet Home 200 101 0 – 4 3 0
Yamhill-Carlton 011 010 3 – 6 9 0