Sweet Home is solidly in second place after a 7-3 loss at Elmira on Friday.
It is the Huskies’ second loss to the Falcons and the Huskies’ only other loss in the Sky-Em League. The Huskies are 6-2. Elmira is 7-0.
Trailing behind the Huskies is Junction City with a 4-4 league record. Sutherlin sits in fourth place at 3-5, followed by Cottage Grove, 2-5, and Sisters, 0-6.
“We’ve got Elmira tomorrow (Tuesday,” said Coach Shane Cochran. “It’ll be a tough one. If we’re hitting the ball good, we should win, but their pitcher’s pretty good.
“We’re playing good. We’re still working on our hitting, and we’re going to keep hitting the ball well.
“I feel confident we’ll for sure take second. After Elmira tomorrow (Tuesday), we’ll start preparing for the regional play-in game.”
That game will be against a team that’s ranked pretty high, Cochran said, but “we can hit the ball, so anything can happen.”
On Friday, Elmira quickly took the lead, scoring a run in the first inning and building a 4-0 run lead. The Huskies scored their first run in the top of five, but Elmira scored three more runs in the bottom of the inning. The Huskies scored again in each of the last two innings.
Ally Tow started the game, pitching three innings.
“She threw a lot of strikes,” Cochran said. “They just hit the ball really well.”
Sarita Zanona pitched two innings, giving up three hits, two walks and three earned runs, while striking out three, and Tow returned for the final two innings.
Tow gave up eight hits and four earned runs and walked just one.
At bat, Mckenzie Cochran had two hits and an RBI. Britney Zook had two hits. Natalie Thorpe, Sierra Thayer, Tow and Makenna Melbye each had a hit. Madi Barringer recorded an RBI.
Sweet Home 000 011 1 – 3 8 1
Elmira 112 030 x – 7 11 3
Sweet Home 16,
Junction City 2
The Huskies beat Junction City 16-2 under the 10-run rule in five innings at home on April 21.
The Huskies scored five runs in the first inning and 11 in the second to seal the win.
They pulled back the reins a little in the third, Cochran said, and Junction City scored a pair of runs in the fourth inning.
Thorpe led at bat with four hits. Cochran added two. Thayer, Tow, Mikayla Spencer and Zook each had a hit.
Tow pitched the first half of the game, giving up no runs, no hits and just one walk. She struck out one batter.
Zanona pitched the second half of the game, giving up four hits and two earned runs with no walks. She struck out one.
Junction City 0 0 0 20 – 2 4 4
Sweet Home 5(11)0 0x – 16 10 2