By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
KEIZER, Ore.– About 12 hours after their rain-soaked game with Myrtle Point/Pacific, the underclassmen-heavy Salem Academy baseball team were back to work at the Volcanoes Spring Break Tournament at Volcanoes Stadium Saturday afternoon against Oakridge.
And for about four innings, the Crusaders went toe-to-toe with the Warriors. After going down 3-1 after the first inning, Salem Academy clutched up defensively and allowed one run over the next two innings as they plated two runs in the meantime. At one point, tying the game up at three, going to the bottom of the third inning before Oakridge regained the lead going into the fourth off a Rowdy Williams double.
The Warriors led 4-3 going to the fourth, and the score remained the same going through the start of the bottom half of the fifth inning.
“We did pretty good at first, that last inning was rough, but other than that, we did good,” said Salem Academy’s Ethan Ditchen. “We have two juniors on the team, and the rest are sophomores and freshmen, Just swinging, hitting, fielding the ball clean, just pretty good baseball.”
The Warriors, coming off of their opening day defeat to La Pine, cleaned up the little things that plaques them in that opening game. They wheeled off wins against Country Christian/North Clackamas Christian and Regis to open the Volcanoes Spring Break Tournament entering Saturday’s contest, staying focus and eventually pieced it together offensively in the bottom half of the fifth to separate themselves from the Crusaders.
With a four-run fifth inning, Oakridge turned what was a 4-3 lead into an 8-3 advantage going to the sixth inning. Mason Hogue, Jonavin Keller, and Adam Palaunk all had RBi singles in the inning to give the Warriors a cushion going into the sixth inning.
“It was really big, and the boys stepped up to the challenge, and they did what they needed to do,” said Oakridge Head Coach Joey Brissette. “We talked to the boys about all it is, us beating ourselves and just making those mental errors. We had seven errors in that first game, we came back and realized that they have the ability to work through those issues and winning ball games.”
The score held through the next half-inning as the time limit was reached with the Warriors winning their third-straight game and improving to 3-1 on the year. Palanuk, Miller, and Williams each drove in two runs with Palanuk leading the Oakridge pitching staff with four strikeouts in three innings on the bump.
Ditchen went four innings for Salem Academy, striking out three. Ainge Anderson drove in the lone run for Salem Academy, and Michael Benson led the Crusader offense with two hits in the defeat.
The Volcanoes Spring Break Tournament wraps up Sunday in Keizer.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
