Reporter for The Canyon Weekly
Santiam High’s youthful baseball team ran into a buzzsaw April 23.
The Wolverines fell behind Regis 6-0 in the top of the first inning and never solved Rams junior right-hander Bryson Nygren, who threw a 5-inning no-hitter in Regis’ 14-0 victory in Mill City.
The Rams improved to 7-0 in Class 2A-1A’s Special District 3 and 10-4 overall. Regis is ranked 11th in the state.
Santiam fell to 5-5 in league play and 9-9 overall. The Wolverines are one game behind Central Linn in the battle for third place and the final automatic playoff berth.
Santiam and Regis are scheduled to play a doubleheader on Friday in Stayton, with the first game set for 2 p.m., weather permitting.
Santiam started four juniors, four sophomores and a freshman against the Rams, with Wolverines coach Clint Forste noting that “we’re young and inexperienced and whenever you play Regis you have to bring your A-game and we didn’t do that today. They are just good all the way around. And that’s a good, young pitcher they have.”
Nygren struck out 12 batters in a game that was shortened to five innings by the 10-run rule. Only two Santiam batters put the ball in play, with Mason Lindeman lining a hard shot right at Regis first baseman Luke Castillo in the bottom of the fourth and catcher Lukus LeBahn hitting a pop foul behind first base that Castillo caught for the third out of that inning.
The other Santiam out was recorded when a runner was picked off first base after Nygren issued his lone walk to Jakob Crowell in the third.
Regis took control with that six-run outburst in the first inning, a 24-minute rally that featured eight stolen bases and four hits.
The Rams added five runs in the top of the fourth, led by a towering grand slam homer to straight away center field by Nygren.
SOFTBALL: Scio improved to 13-1 overall and 8-0 in Class 3A Special District 2 play with a 4-0 win April 23 at Jefferson. The Loggers are ranked No. 1 in Class 3A. Myleigh Cooper of the Loggers ranks high statewide in a number of statistical categories.
Cooper, a junior right-handed slugger and pitcher, is batting .688, third in the state, according to statistics compiled by the OSAA through games of April 17. Cooper has 10 home runs (second in the state), 32 RBIs (fourth in the state) and 112 strikeouts in 54⅓ innings (ninth in the state, although all of the hurlers in front of her have pitched more innings).
In addition, Cooper has nine stolen bases and teammate Macy Johnson has eight, although neither mark is close to the top 10.
Santiam, meanwhile, also remains unbeaten in league play. The Wolverines blanked East Linn Christian 18-0 on April 23 to improve to 6-0 in Class 2A-1A Special District 2 play. Santiam is 14-3 overall and ranked 11th in Class 2A-1A.
The Wolverines are two games up on Gervais and Regis in the league standings and have one game left with each of the other contenders.
TRACK AND FIELD: Santiam junior standout Averie Peterson injured her ankle during the triple jump competition at the Meet of Champions on April 20 at Sweet Home. The injury forced the Wolverines to hold her out of the 400 and 800.
“She was only able to get in one jump before her ankle went out,” coach Brenda Peterson told The Canyon Weekly. “We will keep her out of jumping this week and we are still waiting to see on the running. Just hoping she will be able to heal up in time for districts.”
Before the injury, Peterson had a mark of 32-8.5 in her one triple jump attempt, which earned her fourth place. Peterson also finished eighth in the long jump with a leap of 14-11.
The Wolverines are participating in meets this week on Thursday at Willamina, Friday at Kennedy and Saturday in Stayton.
