Sweet Home shut out Cottage Grove in softball on the road Monday evening, the Huskies’ third win in a row under the 10-run rule and their fifth straight victory.
“We scored six runs in the first inning,” said Coach Shane Cochran. “The first six batters scored, and we made it all the way through our lineup.”
The Huskies scored four more runs in the second inning, Cochran said. The Huskies hit base hit after base hit and did their jobs.
They had to dial it back for the sake of sportsmanship, Cochran said. He subbed in younger players, and the girls started bunting more and pulling back stealing bases. No one else scored through the end of the game in the fifth inning.
Cottage Grove is “young, but they they’ve been winning some games,” Cochran said, and the Lions are doing better than La Pine and Sisters.
Sweet Home is “doing really good,” Cochran said. “I’ve seen a big change in confidence on offense and defense. Since our meeting after the Gladstone game (a 4-0 loss), they’ve really stepped it up.”
The Huskies are 4-0 in league, 8-1 overall.
Katie Virtue led hitting Monday night with three, including a triple. Sarita Zanona also had three hits. Caytlin Gillespie, Sierra Thayer and McKenzie Cochran had two hits each, and Emily Marchbanks and Natalie Thorpe recorded one hit each.
Pitching, Emily Marchbanks gave up a single hit and one walk after throwing a no-hitter with no walks against La Pine on Friday and giving up only two walks to Sisters on April 9.
“She’s doing a really good job,” Cochran said. “She’s really holding those batters off.”
The Huskies defeated La Pine 10-0 in six innings at home on Friday and Sisters 11-1 in five innings on April 9.
They opened league against their toughest rival, Elmira, on April 7 on the road, winning 9-2.
“They actually jumped out ahead of us,” Cochran said. “They scored a run in the first inning.”
The next two innings, the Huskies were still scoreless.
“They put their heads down, kept playing and getting more aggressive,” Cochran said. “By the end of the game, they had nine runs.”
The Huskies had five defensive errors, Cochran said, but fortunately, they occurred at the right time and didn’t hurt the Huskies.
“I’m feeling really confident at this point,” Cochran said, but the girls can get better.
They’re ranked third in the state in OSAA rankings and have been ranked at first this season, but they can still get better. He wants to see more base hits when the bat connects with the ball and the ball is in play.
“I just want to give a lot of credit to the girls on responding really well on our confidence in the batter’s box,” Cochran said. The Huskies have had two team meetings on the subject, and they’ve responded well.
Sweet Home 640 00 – 10 14 0
Cottage Grove 000 00 – 0 1 0
La Pine 000 000 – 0 0 1
Sweet Home 120 223 – 10 8 2
Sisters 100 00 – 1 2 1
Sweet Home 335 0x – 11 8 0
Sweet Home 003 040 2 – 9 13 5
Elmira 100 010 0 – 2 4 3