Reporter for The Canyon Weekly
Scio softball coach Jim Mask took an extremely young squad to the Class 3A semifinals a year ago and the Loggers are back in state contention in 2023 with a 13-0 record and the top ranking on the OSAA charts.
“We were very young last year and even younger this year,” Mask told The Canyon Weekly. “We have one senior this year and we currently start four freshmen, three sophomores, one junior and one senior.
Mask calls his sophomore right-hander Myleigh Cooper “one of the best pitchers in the state” and adds that “she is a great team leader and student.”
In addition to being undefeated in the circle, where she was the PacWest pitcher of the year in 2022, Cooper is the Loggers’ top slugger with five home runs.
The rest of the lineup is young and formidable.
Sophomore center fielder Taryn Ramsay currently is hitting .571, sophomore first baseman Meagan Trissel has a .375 average and teams with junior second baseman Khloe Free on a tough to penetrate right side of the infield..
The four freshman starters are shortstop and leadoff hitter Macy Johnson (.500 average, 7 stolen bases), catcher Cam Dalke catcher (.459 average with 14 RBIs and 13 runs scored), third baseman/pitcher Skylur Brown and speedy center fielder Rilee Nelson, who has shown great range and has added 2 home runs.
Scio lost to district foe Yamhill-Carlton in last year’s semifinals and Y-C is strong again. The Tigers are ranked No. 2, with their lone league loss a 3-1 defeat April 22 at Scio.
The two teams play again Monday (note this refers to May 1) in Yamhill.
Scio has a turf field and Mask notes that “turf is a great advantage, not just for games but the ability to practice outside every day is a huge advantage for us.”
The flip side of that equation is that Mask wound up playing a series of early-season scheduled away games at Scio because of bad weather elsewhere. The result is that the Loggers will be road warriors the rest of the way with eight away games in nine contests.
Santiam, meanwhile, has caught fire in Class 2A-1A’s Special District 2, with three consecutive wins in which the Wolverines outscored foes 50-7 and moved to 4-3 in league.
Santiam was in fifth place at The Canyon Weekly’s presstime, one below the fourth and final automatic playing spot.
Wolverines coach Greg Grenbemer said “it’s been a frustrating season with the weather, (the) many reschedules and four games per week for the next couple of weeks.”
Santiam’s bats have gotten hot in recent days, Grenbemer said, citing senior pitcher Savannah Stanley, junior catcher McKayla Dodge, senior infielder Kielyn Thurston and sophomore outfielder Maddie Allen.
In track and field the Santiam girls took sixth place at the 28-team Meet of Champions on April 22 at Sweet Home. The meet included teams from Class 4A to Class 1A.
Averie Peterson led the Wolverines with second-place finishes in the 400 and the 800 while adding a sixth in the triple jump. Athena Lau of Scio took seventh in the 3,000.
The top finisher for the Santiam boys was Parker Hanna (seventh in the pole vault). Scio’s Levi Fortson was sixth in the pole vault and teammate Jaden Franklin took seventh in the long jump.
Earlier in the week, on April 20, Santiam hosted a four-way Class 3A-2A meet, with Salem Academy winning both the boys and girls team races. Santiam took second, Gervais third and Scio fourth in both competitions.
Peterson won the 800 and the triple jump for the Santiam girls, with teammates Emma Longfellow (discus) and Ellie Lindemann (pole vault) also triumphing. Emily Zamudio won the 300 hurdles for Scio.
Franklin won the 100 and the long jump for Scio, while teammate Fortson captured the pole vault. Gage Twede won the 200 for Santiam.
