By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
SALEM, Ore.– The West Salem softball team came in clutch when they needed to the most.
The Titans had controlled much of Wednesday’s regular season finale against Forest Grove, a game that saw two Top 10 teams in 6A face off, leading 5-0 entering the sixth inning of the game.
Then, the Vikings came around.
Forest Grove loaded up the bases with one out and it wasn’t until Kailea Takahashi’s at-bat with two outs on the board where the Viks got a lucky bounce when an error in the outfield cleared the bases to bring the game back within reach. It was 5-3 Forest Grove at this point and remained the same going into the bottom half of the sixth inning when West Salem got back to the plate.
And they made the most of it.
The Titans, who came into the game ranked fifth in 6A, hit two home runs in the bottom half of the sixth inning. One by Kali Parks and another by Courtney Gills. Both were two-run Home Runs, and the runs came in at the right time as they rebuilt a comfortable lead going into the seventh inning where they closed out what would be a 9-3 victory.
It was as if that sixth inning. The adversity and the good, that they were able to bounce back and respond to close out the game in the fashion that they had.
“It was pretty amazing to know that even though they put the bat on the ball that we were able to stick in and keep our energy up, just keep up our energy and had really good contact,” said Gills.
“It’s unbelievable. I’ve never been a part of a team that was able to keep the energy up. Come back with energy 24/7 and carry that throughout the game,” adds Viviana Nunez. “It gives us confidence going into (the playoffs), you got to remember to stay humble and grounded and remember that it’s an even playing field. Everyone’s 0-0. We’re going in there, forgetting about the rankings and taking it as it’s another team that you have to beat.
West Salem enters the 6A postseason on a 15-game winning streak and will look to continue this momentum into next week as they now await who they’ll play in the first round of the State Playoffs on Monday.
“We just got to keep our energy up and not worry about who we’ll play next, just stay in the now and just go one game at a time,” said Gills. “I think it’s helped us so we don’t overlook teams, and we’re playing our hardest, and we’re not thinking about the team next up. We’re just in the now and just really, really focused on that team.”
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
