By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
SALEM, Ore.– Zoe Moore really made a name for herself during her sophomore year with Chemeketa this Spring.
The Blanchet Catholic-grad almost didn’t return this season, but did and entering the NWAC Postseason, is sitting tied for 11th in the NWAC in Home Runs with 12 and is hitting .363 with 45RBI’s on the season.
“The step from last year to this year was massive. I definitely needed this season. I wasn’t going to play at first, but I came back and I think it’s been the best thing for me,” starts Moore. “I’ve grown a lot as a player and as a leader, being a sophomore this year. This year has really improved me as a player for sure.”
Her and Layni Noonkeeter, who is sitting fourth in the NWAC with 20 Home Runs, lead the Storm offense with double-digit Home Run numbers. The two are just part of the six-member sophomore class for Chemeketa, who really came alive the second half of the season to punch their ticket to their fifth-straight NWAC Postseason trip.
Entering April, the Storm were 10-17 overall and 7-7 in NWAC South Region Play. But a strong April, where they went 12-4 and 7-3 in NWAC South action, Chemeketa made the turn for the better. The month also saw a seven-game winning streak for the squad.
They started to play with confidence and played more consistently, together as a team as they finished the regular season 24-24 overall and 18-14 in conference play.
“It was nice to prove ourselves. We had a tough start in the beginning, so it was nice to have that long stretch where we’re like, ‘yeah, we can hang with anybody in our conference,” said Scio’s Megan Trtssell. “At the beginning we didn’t have much confidence, so I think it built us up and we have the confidence now to go into the NWAC’s and look at making it as far as we can.”
In 46 games this Spring, Trissell is hitting .407 on the year, second-best on the team and only freshman to be hitting .400 at the moment. Noonkeeter (.479), McNary’s Kamryn Long (.400) are the other two, both sophomores, to be hitting in that .400-range. Trissell also has driven in 49 runs on the year, also good enough for second on the team.
Pitching, Chemeketa has seen a two-headed monster in the circle with Willamina-grad Laney Deloe and Salem Academy-grad Addison Bennett splitting time in the circle. Bennett has pitched 130-and-a-third-innings in 29 games this year, striking out 73 batters with Deloe going 116-and-a-third-innings pitched in 26 games pitched, striking out 74 batters. Both have double-digit Complete Games and each picked up a save going into the postseason.
The Storm starts the NWAC Postseason Thursday morning at Delta Park where they’ll play Spokane in a rematch from a game from earlier this season. The two met in early March, March 6, with Spokane taking the game 9-1 in five innings.
Now with a little more experience with their once young, freshman-heavy squad, the Chemeketa’s hoping that they can learn from that game and taking their recent momentum swing into their favor as they’ll look to make a run towards the NWAC Championship this weekend in Portland.
“We just need to improve from when we first played them at the crossover and be able to string our hits together and play our game and have our solid defense like we had this year and just have everything click together,” said Moore.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
