By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
SALEM, Ore.– The Tucker Brack talk of Saturday night worked for the Marion Berries going into Sunday’s three-game West Coast League series finale with Springfield on Sunday evening.
The Berries came out focused and determined to put aside their 4-1 defeat to the Drifters as their defense held Springfield to three runs, and their offense came around, providing their always stout defense some run support. They led 5-3 going into the ninth inning and were closing in on their 12th victory of the season.
Brack talked about how Saturday’s game was the low point, a valley to say. But they just got to keep playing and not doing anything different to further jeopardizing, and possibly. prolonging the valley in their search of the next peak of the season that they were looking for.
“I said Baseball is hard,” Brack said. “You play these many games and these many games in a row. Big Leagues, you go through peaks and valleys, it’s not getting yourself too down, not getting yourself too high, you just gotta keep playing. And if you do that, you’ll find your way out of it faster, and that’s what we did.”
And it drove the squad for Sunday’s game as they put themselves in a position to win a ballgame late.
“It motivated us. He said those are the games at the end of the Summer and it comes down to if you make it to the playoffs or not, that’s when it really matters when you let those games slip away,” adds first baseman Jake Dodge. “When there’s multiple opportunities to execute and win that game. And he told us, at the end of the day, it’s summertime and we’re getting our reps, but we’re also here to compete and make sure that Salem has a good team this year.
“We just wanted to make sure we came out here today and show you guys that you guys wanted to see..”
Heartbreak looked like it was about to rear its ugly head again in the top half of the ninth inning when the Drifters scored twice and tied the game up at five. The Berries kept them to those two runs as they looked for some luck on Little League Night to pull off the victory and not have another game go to extras for the third time in the last week.
The rally started with McNary-grad Jake Allen. The University of Portland sophomore led the inning off with a single to turn the lineup over.
For Allen, it was a special moment for him with his ups-and-downs this season for him. But to come in clutch, as his Marion Berries teammates slowly loaded up the bases soon after, it was a good feeling for the local talent.
“It was definitely a special moment. I’ve had my ups-and-downs. Really, we all picked it up there in that last inning. We all figured it out. We got all the hits we got the walks we needed to, and it was a good team success,” said Allen. “That talk (on Saturday) was definitely huge. It impacted our focus and team success. He really wanted us to move on and really focus on the next chapter. Now that we’re going onto the second stage of league, (Brack) really wants us to lock in for the second half and keep moving forward with the right mindset.”
McNary’s Anthony Cepeda had a chance to win it with the bases loaded but popped it up too shallow in the outfield to send in the winning run. But in the next at-bat, with Oregon State’s Bryce Hubbard, they were able to walk away victorious thanks to Hubbard drawing a bases loaded walk.
The Berries will play Corvallis on Monday at 6:35pm to close out their eight-game home stretch before getting a day off on Tuesday.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
