Reporter for The Canyon Weekly
The high school sports year is finally heading to a close, with baseball and softball championship games set for Friday and Saturday.
Scio softball, the final team standing among Santiam Canyon sides, fell in the Class 3A semifinals to PacWest Conference rival Yamhill-Carlton by a 10-0 count. Y-C takes on Burns in Friday’s title match in Eugene.
The No. 4 Loggers finished 19-3 against the rest of the state and 0-4 against top-ranked Y-C.
Scio baseball also made a good run, advancing to the round of 16 before falling to No. 2 South Umpqua, 5-2, South Umpqua will play Santiam Christian on Friday in Keizer for the 3A title. The Loggers finished 11-13 overall while playing in the tough PacWest, which advanced Yamhill-Carlton and Blanchet Catholic to the semifinals.
Advancing the farthest for Santiam was the No. 18 softball squad, which reached the first round of the Class 2A-1A tournament before falling 9-0 to No. 15 Pilot rock/Nixyaawii.
The 2021-22 school year was the first since 2018-2019 in which all sports seasons were conducted without COVID-related season cancellations or shortenings, although dozens of games were missed statewide because of outbreaks. By April, however, far more events were being canceled by rain than COVID.
Looking ahead to the fall calendar the OSAA moratorium week in which no activities can be held is July 24-30. The first day of practice for fall sports of cross country, football, soccer and volleyball is Aug. 15. The first contest date for sports other than football is Aug 25. Football games can be played as of Thursday, Sept. 1.
