By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
MEDFORD, Ore.– It was the best of both worlds for the West Salem softball team to open the North Medford Invitational on Monday.
In their first game against North Medford, a team that knocked them out of the 6A Playoffs last Spring, the Titan defense shut out the Black Tornado en route to the 2-0 victory. Aubrey Peil and Kali Parks drove in the two runs in the opening game to back up Lucy Duval’s complete game, nine strikeout, two-hitter against North Medford.
In Game 2 of their doubleheader, against a Foothill squad that reached the CIF D3 NorCal Regional Playoffs last year, West Salem produced 13 runs in a 13-7 victory over their California opposition.
“I like to see it because we struggled in our other game against Sunset, it wasn’t a good game. So it was good to see everybody come alive defensively and offensively,” said Duval.
Duval finished with 14 strikeouts in 12 innings as the junior took over for Braeli Martin in the circle for the Titans.
“It’s good, I’m confident like I know that I can do it,” said Duval.
Parks led the offense with five hits, driving in five runs and had a two-run Home Run that came against Foothill on Monday. West Salem finished with 16 hits on the day as they look to close out the tournament strongly on Tuesday.
“We just have a lot of team work and collecting hits together and working as a team and it feels great to get out here and do good,” Parks said of their hits on Monday.
“Just come out hard and come ready to play, have good energy and good communication and just leave it all out on the field,” Parks continued about Tuesday.
Under first year Head Coach Jamie Yeaney, the West Salem Softball team has started 3-1 on the year as they’ll turn their focus to South Medford and McMinnville on Tuesday in Medford.
And it’s still a work in progress for the Titans, who are still working on who’s going to go where and building that team chemistry for hopefully another strong season this year.
“We’re still learning each other on the field,” starts Yeaney. We’re just building and I’m excited to see how we keep adding those stepping stones to build something great and keep catapulting from our season from last year.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
