Ken Roberts
Sports Writer
Mackenzie Marchbanks started her high school softball career with a no-hitter, 15 strikeouts, and no walks in the Huskies opening day 6-0 victory over Pleasant Hill.
The Billies only reached first base once, that on a Sweet Home error to open the bottom half of the 7th inning. She struck out the first nine batters she faced, mixing up her pitches including an effective change up that had the Billies guessing at the plate.
“After I got by the first hitter, it got easier,” said Marchbanks. “I like to strike people out, but I know if they hit the ball, we have a good defense.”
Her teammates gave her all the margin she needed by scoring two runs in the first inning, using a single by Kendra Greene, three walks, and an error. Greene later hit a two run homer in the 4th inning and Michelle Cliver also contributed two RBIs.
“We’re a young team,” said Greene, whose quick start has increased her confidence at the plate, “but we’re starting to show how good we are.”
Coach Rob Younger, who has enjoyed having some new teams on the schedule rather going over the mountains, is encouraged by what he has seen.
“With Mackenzie pitching the way she is, we will be competitive in our games,” said Younger.
“If we can hit and field consistently as we have in some games, then we will be that much tougher. But consistency is the key.”
The Huskies have another double header Saturday, this time at home against Junction City.
Marist 2, Sweet Home 0
The Spartans used slap hitting and effective base running with their solid defense to shut down the Huskies. Though the Spartan pitcher gave up eight walks, the Huskies could only muster two hits in the game, leaving many runners stranded. Marist was able to use a pair of double plays and other key plays in the field to squelch Husky threats in the first, fourth, and seventh innings.
Marist opened the scoring using two slap hits to get runners on and then used a pass ball and wild pitch to score. Marchbanks settled down to engage in a pitching and defensive duel. She compiled 13 strikeouts, including two in the sixth inning to keep the Spartans at bay. However, in the 7th, two Husky errors and another slap hit allowed Marist to score an insurance run.
The Huskies rallied in the bottom half of the 7th when Cliver opened with a walk. Dani Thireault hit a hard line drive to the right fielder for the first out, but Marchbanks walked and Nicki Aerni followed with an infield hit to load the bases. Unfortunately, Greene hit a grounder to the second baseman who tagged Aerni and then completed their second double play.
Sweet Home 13,16; Cottage Grove 2,6
On Saturday, the Huskies unloaded on Cottage Grove pitchers for a 29 run barrage that lifted them to two more victories, bringing their early season record to 3-1.
In game one, Sweet Home had a four run first inning that started with three straight hits, a double by Greene, a slap single by Ashley Wall, and another single by Mickenzie Draper, who had three hits and 2 RBIs during the game. Cliver and Marchbanks also collected hits in the four run first. Even though the Huskies struggled with six errors in the field, Marchbanks was able to keep the Lion hitters off balance despite a narrow strike zone. She limited the Lions to just two hits and two unearned runs.
Wall scored 4 runs in the game while Ashley Horn drove in two with her two hits. Greene continued to have an impressive slugging percentage helped by a leadoff triple in the 4th.
The second game was close for six innings. Cottage Grove started the scoring with a run in the second using two hits and a walk, but the big inning was smothered when catcher Jenna Anderson made a great play off a wild pitch to toss the ball to Wall and nail a runner coming in from third. The Huskies came back with 4 runs, using 4 walks and a couple of critical errors.
Wall had control problems in the third as well, allowing the Lions to close the gap to one run, but she came back strong to strike out the last two batters with the bases loaded, once facing a 3-0 count. Marchbanks entered in the 4th and kept the Lions bats silent enough to pick up the eventual win, at one point striking out 7 of 8 consecutive batters.
The Huskies had some luck in the sixth inning to begin to stretch their lead when a short dink hit off the bat of Cliver evaded the pitcher and bounced crazily to allow Cliver to get a double with two out. Marchbanks followed with a single, plating another Husky runner.
Aerni opened the seventh inning with a shot to left center and turned it into a home run when the centerfielder slipped. After getting the next two batters out, the Cottage Grove pitcher lost control. After three straight walks, she was replaced, but the Huskies greeted the new pitcher with another four hits and a walk enroute to an eight run inning.
Cliver had three hits, three runs, and two RBIs. Marchbanks and Aerni also had two hits and two RBIs. The Husky defense also improved in the second game with just one error.