By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
BEND, Ore.– The South Salem offense didn’t have a lull following their 10-3 victory over Grant on Wednesday when they opened Saturday’s doubleheader with Mountain View at Mountain View High School.
Scoring 20 runs over the course of five innings, the Saxons hit three home runs during that first game. One came the way of Noah Scharer and two came the way of Teagan Scott, the two combining to drive in ten of those twenty runs while Kellen Bowman pitched a one-hitter in the run rule-shortened game to open the day.
“Doubleheaders are really hard, to come out and bang right away was huge for the team and it worked out for us, that part was nice,” said Scott, who drove in seven runs in that first game. “Mountain View is a good team, so it helped everyone’s confidence going into that West Linn game and we’re ready for them.”
The Cougars of Bend slowed down the bats of South Salem in that second game. Ryder Carpenter and Landen Schwerbel stepped up and kept the Saxons from setting the tone from the start as South did in the opening game of the doubleheader.
That was when Luke Erwin stepped up big for South. The Saxon senior, after surrendering a first inning two-run home run, Erwin stepped up and recovered. Over the course of his next four innings on the bump before handing the reins over to Drake Fredinburg, who picked up where Erwin left off to close out what would be a 13-1 victory over seven innings.
“I was just trying to throw strikes, the change-up was working pretty good, all my off-speed. My team backed me, helped me a lot,” Erwin said. “It’s huge, it’s important. Getting these wins and carrying them momentum over is huge.”
Erwin struck out ten over five innings while Fredinburg pitched two innings of perfect baseball to close out the victory, the Saxons seventh of the year.
South will host West Linn Tuesday at 4:30pm at Volcanoes Stadium next, another tough challenge ahead of the Saxons as the Lions currently sit in the Top 6 in 6A.
“Just keep doing what we’re doing. From Day 1 at practice, we’re all have the same goal and that’s being in the State Championship Game and this is one of the teams that we’re going to have to beat to be there,” Scott starts. “We’ll play it as any other game, but also know there’s a little more on the line.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
