Sweet Home softball started off their season last week with a 14-7 loss to Cascade, followed by wins against Woodburn and Philomath.
“It was hard to have practice for five days without all your kids there. So watching the kids get back on the field and compete in the next sport was encouraging and a testament to their athletic ability,” said Head Coach Karyn Hartsook.
Against the Cougars, Sweet Home fell behind early and was unable to come back.
Cascade was able to score seven runs in the first three innings before Sweet Home got on the scoreboard in the third when a line drive double from Savannah Hutchins scored Maddie Harris.
Sweet Home had its biggest offensive effort in the fourth inning, with Adisen Graber, Kelsie Rush, and Maddie Harris each tallying RBIs to score for runs for the Huskies and bring the game score to 7-5 Cascade.
But the Cougars outpaced Sweet Home the rest of the way, mostly on the heels of a big fifth inning in which the they scored four runs to tally up the 14-7 victory.
Harris started the game on the mound for Sweet Home, going four and a third innings and striking out one.
“It was great to see her come out there and perform for the team,” said Hartsook.
Hutchins threw two and two-thirds innings in relief out of the bullpen.
Sweet Home had 12 hits in the game. Cascade had 21.
Chloe Fairchild went 3-for-4 at the plate to lead the Huskies in hits.
“Cascade outhit us. They did a better job than us hitting offensively. And we struggled a bit defensively. But overall, it was great to get back on the field after a year,” said Hartsook.
Sweet Home got in the win column against Woodburn, however, earning a 16-1 victory.
“I’m really proud of the kids. We took the next day in practice to work on the things that challenged us in the first game, and the girls stepped up and got the work done.”
“It was a ton of improvement in a short period of time,” she said.
“We were competitive defensively and offensively and that’s what it took to win the game,” said Hartsook.
The Huskies scored 11 runs in the first inning to put the game out of reach for the Bulldogs. The game was called after 3 innings.
In that time span, the Huskies managed to rack up 14 hits while holding the Bulldogs to just 3.
Harris was again on the mound for Sweet Home and pitched all 3 innings.
Bailee Hartsook and Mikayla Guthrie led the team in RBIs, with 3 each.
The next contest was more of the same dominance from Sweet Home. The Huskies beat Philomath 16-1.
“It was a great win for us over there,” said Hartsook.
“Offensively, I think the girls made good pitch selection when they were up hitting. And that helped us be able to get our on base percentage up higher.”
“This team is so coachable and attentive to detail,” she added. “It’s amazing. We’re only nine days into the season, and we’re doing things that we need to be doing to progress to the next level.”
The big inning for Sweet Home this time came in the second, when they posted 10 runs.
Hutchins pitched all four innings for Sweet Home, holding Philomath to one run on three hits.
“She was on fire and was pitching lights out. Her ball was moving and she was hitting her spots,” Hartsook said of Hutchins.
Hutchins also scored 3 runs and got 3 hits, along with 2 RBIs.
Brooke Burke led the team in RBIs with 3.