By Benny Westcott
Of The New Era
The Sweet Home softball team won three of four games during the Redmond Spring Break Tournament, held Monday and Tuesday, March 21-22.
The Huskies (4-1) defeated 5A South Albany, 4A Madras and 3A La Pine, but fell to 5A Redmond.
“I felt like it was a great start to our season,” Head Coach Karyn Hartsook said. “We got some kids some playing time and learned some things we need to work on.”
Sweet Home dropped La Pine 18-3 in Monday’s opening game.
Of that matchup, Hartsook said, “I felt like we still had some pregame ‘getting going’ jitters and some nerves that we had to work out. But we got it out of our system after the first inning and got back in the groove and were more confident.”
Senior Maddie Harris recorded four strikeouts in three innings on the mound. Junior Makayal Guthrie pitched one inning for the Huskies in relief.
Senior Mykal Johnston went 1-3 at the plate and knocked in two RBIs, while junior Brooke Burke hit 1-2.
Sweet Home followed with a tough 7-6 loss to Redmond.
“I felt like we could have done a better job stringing hits together to capitalize and score more runs,” Hartsook said. “We played well but couldn’t put it together.”
Guthrie started for the Huskies on the mound, pitching two innings. Harris relieved her for three frames, recording six strikeouts.
Burke went 3-3 in the game, and senior Chloe Fairchild hit 2-3. Sophomore Riley Watkins also went 2-3 and had an RBI.
The Huskies dominated both games Tuesday, beginning by toppling South Albany, 15-5.
Guthrie pitched a six-inning game and recorded two strikeouts.
Fairchild had four RBIs while senior Adaira Sleutel had three. Johnston went 2-4.
Sweet Home then dominated Madras, 17-4.
“We are having success all the way through the lineup with kids putting the ball in play. We’re laying down bunts when we need to, and our base running is coming along,” Hartsook said, “People are contributing and doing their jobs.”
Guthrie and Harris pitched three innings each. Guthrie, who started the game, recorded two strikeouts. Harris recorded five in relief and also stole a base on offense.
Guthrie went 2-3 at the plate with one RBI. Fairchild went 2-4 with one RBI.
Sweet Home opened its league schedule with a 17-1 win at Woodburn Monday, March 28.
The Huskies host Philomath (1-4) at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 29, then travel to Sisters, whose only game going into this week was a 16-9 win at La Pine, for a 4:30 p.m. contest Thursday, March 31.