By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
STAYTON, Ore.– The Post 58 Crushers came out firing against the Corvallis Marketmen in Game 3 of their Area-3 league series on Wednesday evening.
After seeing the Marketmen rally to take Game 2 of the series, Game 1 of the doubleheader at Regis High School, 7-4, Post 58 jumped out to a 6-0 lead after the first inning. And down the stretch, they would end up needing every one of those runs to hold off Corvallis late.
That was because the Marketmen, similar to close to the first game, rallied. With a four spot in the top half of the fourth inning and another run in the sixth, the once six-run deficit that Corvallis faced was now down to one. It was 6-5 Crushers going into the bottom half of the sixth.
“That was the first game that we actually battled back from being down, and it really showed us coming together as a team. The State Tournament is going to be a game like that. They’re all going to be tough games,” said the Marketmen’s Drew Rice. “It definitely helps us a lot. At the State Tournament, we’re going to get punched in the face, and it’s really how teams respond to that. It’s going to be back-and-forth every game, and we just gotta take care of the little things and battle back.”
Rice, who graduated from West Albany High School this past year, collected three hits in the doubleheader. Brinton Linton led the Marketmen with two runs driven in and had two hits in the second game.
On the Crushers side, after that tough fourth inning, they settled back in. Cascade’s Slade Hudson went the distance on 87 pitches and had four strikeouts. The incoming Cougar senior pitched to contact, and his defense backed him up.
And with the game on the line, the Crushers clutched up and broke up Corvallis’ bid for the Area-3 sweep in the 6-5 victory.
“I was pitching to contact for the boys, and they were making everything. I knew that they were going to make plays, I had no doubt about that,” said Hudson. “We knew what they were going to have to offer. We came out strong in that second game, and we battled.”
Wade Berghdal and Scotty Cummings each led the Crusher offense in game two with two hits each, Wyatt Postlewait led the offense in the second game with two runs driven in. The Crushers offense produced 21 hits in the doubleheader split.
Ryne Hockman went six-and-two-third innings in Game 1 for Post 58 with four strikeouts. Wednesday’s doubleheader starts a three-day stretch of doubleheaders with the Crushers hosting the JBD-Littlefield squad for a doubleheader Thursday at Regis High School
Kaden Shafer went the distance for the Marketmen in Game 1 of Wednesday’s doubleheader, striking out five as Crovallis starts their final Area-3 series with the Wellcare Dodgers on Friday.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
