Winning two out of three games in the past week, the Huskies have clinched second place in the Sky-Em softball league.
At home, Sweet Home defeated Sisters 7-1 on Monday and La Pine 10-0 on May 1 and lost to Elmira 3-0 on Friday.
Against La Pine, Emily Marchbanks, a sophomore, missed pitching a perfect game by a single walk in a no-hitter, striking out nine batters.
The games leave the Huskies 11-5 overall and 9-3 in league behind Elmira. Elmira is in first place after sweeping the Huskies and everyone else so far, putting together a 13-0 league record. Elmira is the only Sky-Em team to defeat the Huskies so far this year.
The Huskies finish the regular season at Junction City on Friday. They will host the third-place team from the Oregon West Conference on May 17 in the first round of state playoffs.
That team will be Newport or Stayton, said Coach Casey Humphrey. If he were to bet, he would go with Stayton.
The Huskies faced both teams at the beginning of the season. Newport beat the Huskies 10-0, and Sweet Home beat Stayton 2-1.
Humphrey is confident his team can beat either opponent, he said. “I think when it gts to this part of the season, it’s anybody’s game.”
Elmira 3, Sweet Home 0
Elmira squeaked in runs in the third, fourth and fifth innings to defeat the Huskies Friday.
“What it came down to was Alyson Boytz, the Elmira pitcher, just kind of shut us down,” Humphrey said. “We didn’t have a hit until the sixth inning.”
The Huskies were held to two hits, one each for Katie Virtue and Megan Rubidoux.
“I think Katie got on with one of her slaps and used her speed,” Humphrey said. “Rubi went to the right side to get a base hit.”
Emily Marchbanks started and pitched through the fourth inning. Megan Graville pitched the rest of the game. Each had four strikeouts and gave up one walk and two hits.
“It’s a tough one,” Humphrey said. “We don’t want to get swept by anybody, but we played a decent ball game.”
Elmira has a tough pitcher, and the team is senior-laden, he said. Obviously, to go deep into playoffs, the Huskies will need to be able to beat tough teams like Elmira.
Elmira 001 110 0 – 3 4 1
Sweet Home 000 000 0 – 0 2 3
Sweet Home 7, Sweet Home 1
The Huskies took awhile to get a big inning, and Sisters led 1-0 after two innings Monday.
The Huskies tied the game in the next inning and went ahead in the fifth. They put the game away, scoring five runs in the sixth.
“I think we just weren’t hitting the ball very well,” Humphrey said, but they got their bats swinging in the sixth with a squeeze bunt to start scoring followed by an overthrow.
Emili Riggs went 2-3 with a pair of doubles. Virtue went 3-3. Hailey Hummer and Rubidoux went 1-3.
Graville pitched the game, striking out 10 Outlaws and giving up four hits. She hit one batter and gave up no other walks.
Sisters 010 000 0 – 1 4 4
Sweet Home 001 015 x – 7 8 3