By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
SALEM, Ore.– The Blanchet Catholic baseball team had to dig deep. Find something within them to overcome the Burns/Crane squad that they were facing in the 3A State Quarterfinals on Friday afternoon.
They, the Cavailers, found themselves down 1-0 to the Highlanders going into the sixth inning in the playoff match-up. The Burns/Crane run coming off a Orion Houck single in the Top half of the third inning, and the Highlander defense had held Blanchet to four hits total in the opening five innings of the game and were on the doorstep of knocking off the Cavs on their home turf.
“Everyone woke up when we got that first run. When we were ahead, everyone was up because they were up off their seats, and it wasn’t quiet in the dugout.” Houck said.
The Burns/Crane offense had a few opportunities to add to their lead. But each time they got runners in scoring position after the lead, more specifically in the fourth and sixth inning, Carson McNally and his defense shut down the threat and kept the score at 1-0.
It was that sixth inning, when the Highlanders had runners on second and third base, with two outs following a McNally balk, was when Blanchet started to get some kind of momentum going into their favor. And it started with a McNally strikeout to end the inning.
“After I got that strikeout in the top half of the sixth, and it fired the team up. Start of the inning with a little single and the rest of the team took it from there,” said McNally. “We made adjustments, Dylan (Cuff) called some great pitches. Our defense made great plays, and we buckled down when we had to.”
McNally helped his case with a lead-off single in the bottom half of the sixth, bridging that strikeout to end the top half of the inning into what would become a big inning for the Cavaliers
Slowly, the bats came around. Then the runs. Six of them came across home before it was all said and done, turning a possible upset bid by Burns/Crane into a 6-1 lead for Blanchet by the time they traded their bats for their gloves to close out the game.
“Just waiting on the ball. We changed our approach, more oppo and just letting the ball travel was the big thing. We were outfront, a little anxious in the box, but just letting the ball travel was the big part for our success in the game,” said Dylan Cuff. “We started off a little bit slow, we picked up. I think just staying locked in was the big part, really.”
McNally closed out the Complete Game bid, striking out five batters in the process. Cuff had a team-high three runs driven in and Drew Bartels drove in two runs with two hits as the Cavaliers advanced to the State Semi-Final round for the fourth-straight year where they’ll play Taft on Tuesday for a spot in the 3A State Title Game.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
