By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
STAYTON, Ore.– The Stayton softball team entered the season with a young roster and faced a challenging preseason schedule, taking on teams like St. Helens, The Dalles/Dufur, and Astoria to prepare for Oregon West Conference play and a potential 4A state playoff push later this month.
But thanks to that strong non-league slate, the Eagles are seeing the dividends now six games into OWC play. They’re making adjustments faster, they’re bonded together as a unit having gone through the ups-and-downs to this point.
And the result? A 5-1 start to OWC League play, currently second in the conference with their only league defeat coming to rival Cascade on April 27. The momentum is on the side of the Eagles following their 4-7 start to the season. Not bad for a team that has seven underclassmen on their roster to go with nine upperclassmen.
“They’re really resilient. Even when we’re down a bunch of runs, they’re able to come back. And I have no doubt that they will come back and figure it out together. I’m a firm believer in that there’s nothing this team can’t accomplish together if they do it together,” adds Wyllie.
The thing is too. Stayton could be in this for the long-haul cause of their youth. Of their nine upperclassmen, only three are seniors. Those three are Molly Cox (first-basemen), Mylie Walker (Middle Infielder) and Makenzie Schacher (Pitcher). The three are doing their best in leaving their mark on the program as they enter the twilight of their prep careers.
“I’m trying my best to lead our team and trying to show them, being one as a team instead of being players on the field. It’s going to benefit our play and get us farther towards playoffs,” said Cox. “Just being able to have a really hard preseason was super helpful to help us build our skills, especially with a different team from last year. I feel like we have a better connection with all the girls on our team. So being able to have more of a team mindset with each other instead of being one player on a field, on a team, has really helped our strength with our players.”
Stayton will look to continue this recently strong stretch on Monday when they host Philomath before heading to North Marion (Wednesday) and Cascade (Thursday).
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
