By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
SILVERTON, Ore.– The defense of the Woodburn baseball team saw a lot of action in Monday’s 10-1 defeat to Silverton in Mid-Willamette Conference play.
The Bulldogs, in their third-year back as a Varsity program and led by second-year Head Coach Casey Sterett, slowed down the Foxes bats in the defeat as the program with four seniors are slowly laying down that foundation. At one point, going into the bottom half of the second inning, Woodburn had this game tied up at one following a Manny Alvarez RBI single during the top half of the second inning.
Sterett has been preaching one play at a time, one out at a time, and this season alone there’s been flashes of what could be coming for the Woodburn program moving forward with a roster that features four seniors and the rest sophomore and juniors.
“What we’re doing right now is getting these guys taking it one play at a time, one out at a time. Making the routine plays and right now, with this team right now… we’re doing a lot better. It’s a lot of hard work trying to get these young men ready to play against older guys because these guys are really young and we’re working hard getting them there,” said Sterett of his team.
Silverton pulled back ahead in the bottom half of the second inning, scoring three runs in the frame, to take a 4-1 lead into the third inning. James Collier had a lead-off home run that broke the tie before the Foxes tacked on their lead after that and would go 3-for-4 hitting with 3RBI’s in the victory on Monday. The Woodburn defense settled back in after the three run inning and held Silverton to one run over the course of the third and fourth innings before the Foxes got their timing back with their bats to extend their lead to 10-1 going into the final inning of the game to close out the two-game MWC series
Coming off of their four game skid at the end of April and into the start of May, the Foxes have wheeled off four-straight victories going into their final two series of the regular season against Lebanon and West Albany as they’re still in the hunt for a 5A State Playoff berth.
“As with the team, I think we’re way more confident with our at-bats. We’re a really competitive team. It’s that mentality of one game at a time and not to overlook anyone, practice hard, practice tough, and take every rep, take every step,” said Collier.
Woodburn closes out the regular season with Crescent Valley/Kings Valley Charter and McKay.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
