By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
TURNER, Ore.– The Cascade Softball team found a way to reverse their fortunes in Thursday’s 10-4 victory over rival Stayton on Thursday afternoon at Cascade High School.
Entering the bottom of the third inning, the Cougars trailed the Eagles 4-0 after Stayton scored all four of its runs in the top half of the frame, capitalizing on three Cascade errors to seize control of the game. All four of the Eagles’ runs came with two outs as Stayton capitalized on putting the ball in play and applying pressure on the Cougars defensively.
“It was super good, it kept the spirits high and kept the girls in the game. We’ve been really focusing on team-quality at-bats. Moving people around, trading places and that’s what they executed,” said Stayton Head Coach Madison Wyllie.
But. The Cougars rally came slowly.Cascade answered with a run in the bottom of the third inning to cut the deficit to 4-1 after three. The Cougars then turned in a cleaner defensive effort in the top of the fourth, allowing just a single before recording the next three outs. In the bottom half of the inning, Cascade seized the momentum.
Taylor Bays singled to open the inning, that was followed by a two-run Home Run by Maddy Tingle that pulled the Cougars back within one of Stayton. Cascade would go on to score twice more before the Eagles ended the threat trailing 5-4 going into the fifth inning.
“It was good because we were able to get back with a good hit,” Tingle said of her home run.
“I think we got our energy up. It started off pretty dead and we got our energy up towards the end and we started to do better when our energy gets up,” adds Cascade’s Haylee Kastl.
There was a belief that they can, that they could come back and that’s going to be big for them moving forward points Kastl as they prepare for one last loop through Oregon West Conference play. And the rest of the game showed what they’re capable of doing.
Both teams were held scoreless in the fifth inning before the Cougars kept Stayton off the board again in the top of the sixth. Cascade then pulled away in the bottom half of the inning, scoring five runs to put the game out of reach in the 10-4 victory.
The Cougars consistently found gaps in the defense when they needed to, using five of their 14 hits along with three walks in the sixth inning to fuel the late offensive surge
“Realistically, we had around the same amount of hits, but it was their hits landed in places that weren’t people and ours were hit to people. So really working on gap-to-gap and them playing as a team,” said Wyllie.
Mollie Emmert and Makenzie Schacher each had team-high two hits in the game for the Eagles. Schacher struck out five batters pitching for Stayton.
Cassidy Crabtree led the Cougars with four hits and Tingle drove in four runs in the victory for Cascade, their 12th-straight.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
