Sweet Home’s summer baseball team finished its season with a decisive win over Stayton at home Wednesday and a 2-1 record and third place at the Newport Tournament this past weekend.
Sweet Home 8, Newport 6
In their final game of the summer, the Huskies took it to the Cubs Sunday, with some “great”defensive plays, Coach Dan Tow said.
After two scoreless innings, Sweet Home got on the board with a pair of runs in both the third and fourth innings, then held off a rally by Newport that made it 5-all at the bottom of the fifth.
The Huskies closed it out with a three-run surge in the top of the sixth and held the Cubs to one answering run to take home the win.
“We really hit the ball well in our last game of the summer,” Tow said. “Newport is always tough and our kids played hard and with a lot of effort.”
Starting pitcher Tanner Erickson “did a great job on the mound” after taking the game into the sixth inning after pitching the previous two days.
TJ Sipe pitched in relief and saved the game.
Erickson (3-5, 2 doubles) and JP Williams (3-4, 1 double) led the team at the plate, while Christian Whitfield added two RBIs in going 2-4 and TJ Sipe also added two hits. Zach Miller, Tyler Holly and Shelby Johnson all had a hit each.
Erickson keyed the defense with a couple of “great” defensive plays from the mound and Johnson made a “great diving play” on a ball down the first base line, Tow said.
“Our kids finished the summer playing very good baseball,” he said. The Huskies combined for 53 runs on 50 hits over the last four games, of which they won three.
“We played 25 games this summer and some of our kids made almost all of those,” Tow said. “I thought it was a very productive summer and we gained valuable experience, game time in actual sunny weather and we won just over half of our games.”
SH – 002 213 0 – 8 13 2
– – 000 032 1 – 6 7 2
Sweet Home 10, North Marion 9
The Huskies scored five runs in the first inning, but got off to a bad start defensively Saturday, allowing North Marion nine runs in the first two innings.
But Sweet Home turned it around, clawing back behind some “excellent pitching” by Colton Holly in the third through seventh innings, Tow said.
“We rallied to play better defense and produce some runs,” he said. “I was proud of our kids for hanging in there after giving up so many runs (seven) in the second inning.
Sweet Home took the lead with a single run in the fifth and held on to win as both teams went scoreless through the top of the seventh.
Holly relieved JP Williams and Tanner Erickson put in time on the mound for Sweet Home as well.
Brad Valloni, Levi Marchbanks, Shelby Johnston, Andrew Winslow and Sean Potter all scored two runs each, while TJ Sipe, JP Williams and Holly added a run each.
“Our defense was very good, especially during the last two innings,” Tow said. “We showed some character and perseverance and pulled out a hard-fought victory.”
SH – 500 410 X – 10 14 1
NM – 270 000 0 – 9 5 1
Pleasant Hill 16, SH 7
The Huskies were lacking a bit on defense Friday, though they battled all afternoon, Tow said.
“Pleasant Hill has a very solid club and we stayed with them for a while, but in the end they were just a little too much for us,” he said, noting that the Huskies made some errors that “probably wouldn’t have changed the outcome but certainly would have made it a lot closer.”
The Billies hit the ball well, totaling 14 hits. For Sweet Home, Levi Marchbanks led the team at the plate, going 2-3 with two RBIs. Brad Valloni added a double and Andrew Winslow, TJ Sipe, Sean Potter and JP Williams all singled.
Marchbanks started on the mound for the Huskies and was relieved by Tanner Erickson, TJ Sipe and JP Williams.
PH – 352 240 X – 16 15 0
SH