By Keeghan Gittins
For The New Era
Sweet Home’s softball team won a back-and-forth play-in game Thursday, May 22, 8–5 over visiting Estacada to move on to the first round of the OSAA 4A championships tournament, in which it will play at No. 5 Pendleton Tuesday, May 27.
Against Estacada, the Huskies found themselves down a run in the bottom of the first but after a base hit from Addy Vannice, and back-to-back Estacada errors, the Huskies emerged up 2-1 to end the inning.
The Rangers scored a run to even the score as Sweet Home went scoreless in the second,and then Estacada was able to capitalize and take a 3-2 lead.
But then the Huskies got rolling as Kaitlyn Kennedy, in her first playoff appearance, stepped up big for Sweet Home hitting a two-run RBI triple. Kennedy followed that up with another triple in the fourth to take a 5-3 lead after the Rangers evened the score again.
“I feel like I had to step up, I definitely performed better because of the pressure of the playoffs, hopefully I can take this momentum into the next round,” Kennedy said.
A two-run RBI single from Hannah Sieminski in the bottom of the fifth inning put the game out of reach for Estacada, leaving the Huskies with a 8-5 lead.
Sieminski and Miley Smith were the only players from Sweet Home to score more than one run. Sieminski led the team with two stolen bases, one of them stealing home.
The Huskies had seven hits, with Katriona “Peanut” Harris, Sieminski and Kennedy, each collecting two. Miley Smith had the final single. Estacada out hit Sweet Home having eight, but Sweet Home forcing six crucial errors made the difference in this game.
Harris was the pitcher of choice this game, throwing 115 pitches and 70 strikes. She faced 35 batters in the seven innings, striking out seven of them.
The Husky defense was able to shut down the high-powered Ranger offense, as Estacada has had 11 games with 10 or more runs.
It looked to be a potential high-scoring slugfest, with Estacada scoring a run in every inning and two in the fourth, and Sweet Home answering with two in the first and three in the third.
But the game actually turned into a strong defensive showing by the Huskies, who did not allow a single run in the final three innings.
“The energy in the dugout completely flipped in the fifth inning, and that propelled us to get those two runs in the fifth to take the lead, that momentum definitely helped in shutting Estacada out in those final three innings.” Harris said following the game.
The game ended with Newberry making the game-winning catch, sending the Huskies into the first round and extending their season one more week.
Sweet Home entered this week just four wins away from the State Championship.
The Huskies have not made it to the second round since 2019. The last three seasons, Sweet Home has made it to the first round of the playoffs, but have had to face Henley each year in Round 1; the combined score of the games against Henely was 39-1.
This year, though, the first-round opponent is Sweet Homes’ Pendleton. The Buckaroos are 10-2 in league and 22-3 overall on the season. The game will be played Tuesday, May 27, at 5 p.m. at Pendleton High School.
“In order to make sure we’re not just a first round exit again, we need to play together and not overthink,” Harris said. “When we have high energy and play together, we’re unbeatable.”
