Sweet Home baseball scored an upset win against a Newport team, the third-place team in the 4A-3 Oregon West Conference, Wednesday, May 4.
As if the underdog victory wasn’t exciting enough, the Huskies (4-15) pulled off the feat in walk-off fashion in the bottom of the 10th inning, when a Hunter Ashby hit scored Kaden Zajic as the go-ahead run.
Sweet Home clawed its way back from a 5-1 deficit in the 7-6 victory. Newport (16-4) scored three runs in the first inning before Sweet Home answered with one run in the bottom of the frame, when a Casey Valloni groundout scored Lewis Conn. Newport immediately bounced back with two runs in the second inning to bring the score to 5-1.
But the Huskies started rallying in the bottom of the fourth, when Alex Kisselburgh doubled off of the left field wall, scoring Russell Holly and Tucker Weld.
With the score 5-3 Newport, the Huskies struck again the next inning. Casey Valloni hit a two-RBI single, scoring Dylan Luttmer and Conn and knotting the game at 5-5 after five innings.
Sweet Home took the lead in the bottom of the sixth when Josh Wilson scored on a wild pitch, but Newport answered with a run of its own in the top of the seventh.
The game went into extra innings. After two and a half scoreless frames, Hunter Ashby stepped up to the plate in the bottom of the 10th, with Kaden Zajic on second. Ashby connected for a walk-off hit to center field, scoring Zajic and winning the game for Sweet Home.
Sweet Home outhit Newport 10-4, but committed six errors to Newport’s four.
Jon “Huston” Holly started on the mound for the Huskies. He pitched four innings, giving up no earned runs on two hits, while striking out two and walking four.
“It wasn’t really his day to start out, and then he kind of settled in,” Head Coach John Best said of Holly.
Conn came on in relief and pitched six innings, giving up no earned runs on two hits, while striking out two and walking two.
“I was just hoping for a couple innings out of him and he went the distance for us and picked up a win. That was awesome. I thought he threw really well,” Best said.
Valloni led the team with three RBIs, while Kisselburgh had two. R. Holly led the team with two hits.
“I thought our guys did great,” Best said. “It was a big win for us, and a total team win. Walk-offs are pretty awesome. And I think for a few of our kids, it might have been one of their first walk-off wins. A couple of them were talking about not remembering very many of them.”
“We haven’t had the success that we were really hoping for this year as far as wins and losses go, but I think that the kids really enjoyed that one,” Best said of the victory. “That was a good win for morale, and it was a good team win. Everyone contributed.”
The next game in the home doubleheader did not go as well for the Huskies, as Newport bested Sweet Home 17-7. The Cubs jumped out to a massive 17-0 lead after four and a half innings, with six runs in the first, two in the second, four in the third, and five in the fourth.
“Before you knew it, we were in quite the hole,” Best said. “It seemed like our guys were kind of sluggish and not really in it. Our energy was kind of low. Maybe it was being content with the first win.”
But Sweet Home got on the board with one run in the bottom of the fourth when a Kisselburgh single scored Zajic. The home team tallied up six more in the bottom of the fifth. Wilson scored when Valloni was hit by a pitch. Weld walked in Conn. Then Zajic walked in Holly, and a Kisselburgh single scored Valloni. A Dylan Luttmer sacrifice fly scored Weld, and Sieminski singled to right field to score Zajic. Still, the ten-run rule went into effect after five innings.
Newport outhit Sweet Home 7-6. The Huskies committed three errors, compared to Newport’s two.
Zajic pitched one inning for the Huskies, allowing five earned runs on five hits while walking three. Jacob Sieminski pitched one inning, giving up two earned runs on one hit while walking three. Ashby pitched one and two thirds, giving up no earned runs on one hit while striking out one and walking four. Wilson pitched one and one third inning, giving up no earned runs and allowing no hits or walks, while striking out one.
Looking at the games against Newport as a whole, Best said “I was really impressed with our bats. I thought we were swinging it really well. It’s kind of nice playing a little bit better baseball against a good opponent.”
Sweet Home wraps up the season with two games against Cascade this week. The Huskies host the Cougars (5-13) on Wednesday, May 11 at 4:30 p.m. They then play at Cascade on Thursday, May 12 at 4:30 p.m.