The Huskies finished sweeping the Cottage Grove Lions in softball to end their regular season, and now they prepare to face Corbett in the state play-in round.
The game starts at 4:30 p.m. Admission is $6 for adults and $4 for students.
The Huskies will play a pickup game at North Eugene on Tuesday and then practice Wednesday for the game against Corbett.
While hoping to avoid jinxing his team, Coach Shane Cochran is confident in his team going into the play-in round.
“I think we’ll come out on top on that one,” he said. “They’re a young team. They’ve only won six of their last seven games, but we’re preparing for it.”
The Huskies finished their regular season with an 8-6 win at Cottage Grove on May 13 and a 10-3 win at home on Friday.
They are 11-4 in league and 14-6 overall, behind Elmira, 15-0. Junction City, 7-8, is in third, followed by Cottage Grove, 5-10; Sutherlin, 4-11; and Sisters, 3-12.
Sweet Home started out flat last week as the Lions scored a run each in the third and fourth innings.
“We started playing good in the fifth inning,” said Coach Shane Cochran. His team was making a lot of mental errors before that. The Huskies came back from it and got things going.
The Huskies took a 4-2 lead in the top of five. The Lions scratched their way back into a 5-4 lead in the bottom of the inning. The Huskies added another four runs in the sixth and held Cottage Grove to one in the seventh to get the win.
“I just think they found the groove and kept going,” Cochran said. They quit making the mental errors. They did the job. A win’s a win, and they got it done.”
Ally Tow pitched a complete game, giving up 10 hits, five earned runs and four walks, striking out six.
At bat, Mckenzie Cochran and Maddee Hawken each collected two hits. Natalie Thorpe, Sierra Thayer, Tow, Caytlin Gillespie, Madi Barringer, Makenna Melbye and Britney Zook each hit the ball once.
Hawken hit a triple, and Thayer hit a double with four RBIs.
In Friday’s game, Sweet Home got down to business right away, taking a 2-0 lead in the first inning and building an 8-1 lead by the end of the third. The Lions scored again, twice in the sixth, but couldn’t catch up.
“We worked on a few things in practice on Thursday,” Cochran said. “They just stayed focused going into Friday and played a real good game.”
The Huskies committed one physical error but no mental errors, he said. “We made a lot of plays in that game. They had seven hits. We had opportunities to make outs, and we got our outs, and of course, we batted real good.”
The girls got their hits while runners were on base in position to score, Cochran said.
At bat, Cochran and Gillespie each hit the ball three times. Hitting twice were Thorpe, Thayer and Melbye. Barringer collected one hit. Thayer, Cochran and Melbye each hit a double. Thayer and Cochran had two RBIs, and Thorpe and Gillespie each had an RBI.
Tow pitched a complete game, giving up seven hits and three earned runs but no walks. She struck out five.
Cottage Grove 001 002 0 – 3 7 1
Sweet Home 233 020 x – 10 13 1
Sweet Home 000 044 0 – 8 11 1
Cottage Grove 001 130 1 – 6 10 0