Reporter for The Canyon Weekly
The top-ranked Class 3A Scio softball team lost its first game of the regular season May 1, taking a narrow 5-4 defeat at the hands of No. 2 Yamhill-Carlton.
“It was a good game,” Logger coach Jim Mask told The Canyon Weekly. “We started off a little rocky, giving up a few unearned runs early on but settled in and played pretty well the rest of the game.”
Scio, 15-1 overall and 9-1 in Special District 2, scored all four of its runs in the top of the fifth to tie it 4-4. Y-C tacked on a run in the bottom of the sixth to retake the lead. Scio put a runner on in the top of the seventh, but the game ended on a lineout that turned into a double play.
Taryn Ramsay had three hits for Scio, two singles and a double, and scored a run. Myleigh Cooper pitched a complete game, only giving up two earned runs. Skylur Brown and Rilee Nelson both hit doubles. At the plate top slugger Cooper was intentionally walked in all four plate appearances.
Y-C, 16-3 overall and 8-1 in the district, advanced to the 3A championship game a year ago after downing Scio in the semifinals. The Tigers’ roster contains five seniors to just one for the Loggers.
“We are a young team that is continuing to get better and works hard,” Mask said. “We have three weeks until the state playoffs to continue to improve and see what we can do.”
Scio has four league games remaining, then will take on two Class 2A powers, Lakeview and Kennedy, as they prep for the playoffs. Scio likely will host a home playoff game on Wednesday, May 24.
Santiam, meanwhile, is in the thick of the fight for a Class 2A-1A playoff spot in Special District 2. The Wolverines were 7-4 and in fifth place heading into a Wednesday doubleheader against Western Christian. Santiam needs to finish in the top four in league to receive an automatic playoff spot. Monroe (8-4) and Culver (8-5) lie just ahead of the Wolverines in the standings, with Regis at 7-5. Two at-large positions also are available.
Santiam baseball scored its first win of the season, taking down East Linn Christian Academy, 8-5, in the second game of an April 28 doubleheader.
“The boys battled hard all week,” coach Zac Steele said. Key contributors included Brayden Gutierrez, who knocked in five runs in the first game vs. East Linn, a 13-6 loss, and Lukus Lebahn, who combined to score seven runs in the two East Linn games. Logan Hays had 4 RBIs in game 2.
Payte Hansen was the winning pitcher, throwing “six strong innings,” said Steele.
Top defenders for Santiam were second baseman Hunter Keys and improving outfielders Collin Storey, David Massey, and Connor Meeker, who also had a two-run single Thursday against Regis and added another two RBIs in the East Linn win.
The track and field season is in the home stretch as Santiam and Scio get set for district meets. Santiam competes May 19-20 at Blanchet Catholic in Salem, while Scio hosts its meet May 17-18 at Newcomb Stadium.
Averie Peterson, Emma Longfellow and Ellie Lindemann are currently the top-ranked Santiam girls in Class 2A. Peterson is ranked first in the 800, second in the 400, fifth in the triple jump and seventh in the long jump. Longfellow is second in the discus and seventh in the shot put, while Lindemann is in a three 3-way tie for first in the pole vault. Longfellow scored a 126-2 PR in the discus last Saturday in a meet at Stayton.
Gage Twede, Marcos Moreno and Parker Hanna are shining for the Santiam boys. Twede is sixth in the long jump and triple jump and eighth in the 400, Moreno is fourth in the discus and tied for ninth in the pole vault, while teammate Hanna is fourth in the vault.
Levi Forson of the Loggers is currently tied for third in Class 3A in the pole vault. He set a PR of 13-0 last Saturday at the Stayton Invitational.
