By Keeghan Gittins
For The New Era
Sweet Home’s softball team finished last week in sole possession of third place in the Oregon West Conference after a 2-1 finish, losing to Cascade, but rebounding with big wins against Newport and North Marion.
Cascade 11, Sweet Home 4
Monday, April 28, Sweet Home lost a tough game on the road at No. 3 Cascade.
Neither side allowed a baserunner for the first inning, which ended 0-0.
But entering the bottom of the third, two doubles and a few errors allowed the Cougars to score four runs.
Sweet Home responded with a run of its own on an Aaliyah Brown RBI. Brown led the team with two hits.
Cascade extended its lead to five with a pair of runs in the fourth, but Sweet Home answered back with back-to-back doubles by Natalie Smith and Kenadie King, both tallying an RBI, cutting the Cougar lead to two.
Cascade erupted for another scoring burst with five and the Huskies failed to record a base hit in the final two innings, getting out six straight times, to end the game 11-4.
Sweet Home 7, Newport 2
At home Wednesday, April 30, Sweet Home won in commanding fashion, 7-2 over the visiting Cubs.
The Huskies came out of the gate to jump out to a five-run lead in the first inning.
Sweet Home took full advantage of Newport’s six errors, plating their first three runs off defensive miscues by the Cubs.
Anabelle Morris led the team with three hits and also scored a run, while Katriona “Peanut” Harris drove in the game’s only RBI.
The Huskies were dominant at the plate, only striking out once. Addy Vanice had a stellar game, recording two runs, two hits, and led the team with two stolen bases in her three at-bats.
The Cubs struggled against the Huskies’ defense, going scoreless through the first four innings against starter Jocelyn Fairchild, who pitched five strong innings, allowing just four hits and striking out five batters.
Harris took over in the sixth and efficiently closed out the game, needing only 28 pitches to retire four of the eight batters she faced. Both pitchers allowed just one run during their respective tenures.
Sweet Home 16, North Marion 4
The Huskies faced North Marion on April 31 for their final game of the week, turning what started as a close contest into a mercy-rule blowout win.
Sweet Home was down 2-1 going into the second, before scoring two runs and taking the lead. North Marion responded with two runs of its own, edging out to a 4-3 advantage. Both teams went scoreless in the third inning.
But then the Huskies caught fire offensively, as Hannah Sieminski hit a single, allowing King to score, then on an error, Miley Smith scored.
Sweet Home then showed great eyes at the plate, getting walked eight times and scoring eight runs. Harris and Fairchild both pitched three innings in Thursday’s game, Fairchild giving up only two hits, zero runs, and adding two strikeouts. Due to the mercy rule, the game ended 16-4 in the sixth inning.
Sieminski finished with three hits, three runs, and led the team with three RBIs in her four at-bats. Sieminski and Miley Smith both led the team with three hits and three runs.
The other half of the Smith duo, Natalie, had a strong day at the plate, having back-to-back RBI doubles, and scoring twice. Sweet Home was only up 8-4 entering the top of the sixth.
Going into this week, the Huskies were ranked 12th and in third place behind Cascade (8-1) and Stayton (7-2) at 5-4, one game ahead of Philomath (4-5).
They were to play a home game against No. 10 Stayton on Monday, May 5. The Huskies then travel to Philomath on Wednesday, May 7, before returning home to host Cascade on Thursday, May 8.
The final week of regular OWC play starts with a road game at Newport May 12, a homestand with North Marion on May 15 and the final regular-season game at Stayton May 15. The Newport and Stayton games will be at 3:30 p.m. All others are at 5 p.m.