By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
DAYTON, Ore.– The Scio softball took it personally.
They remembered what happened in Scio with Dayton back on April 16. They remembered that 12-3 defeat to the Pirates.
And they showed Dayton what they’re capable of.
Top half of the first inning, they scored four runs. Two coming off a Cam Dalke triple and another two coming off a Mahala Pyle Home Run.
Their defense, led by Gracie Ferguson, played well. They surrendered a run in the bottom half of the first inning, but not again until the bottom half of the sixth inning as they built a 5-1 lead up to that point. Their outfield, infield, pitcher-catcher, all nine players rose to the occasion and anchored down to try to win this game.
“We were definitely pissed off in a way. We definitely didn’t want them to get it again, so we just came out and we just put our faces on and we just wanted to win,” said Ferguson. “We had the confidence. (My defense), I give it to them. Everytime I hit my spot and (Dayton) hit it, they had my back and I could fully trust them.
“That first inning really made the difference. It really took us off and made our defense a little more calm and trusting.”
Dayton made Scio work for it though. Charly Upmeyer, who went the distance pitching, recovered after that first inning as her and the Pirate defense made the routine plays to halt the Logger bats.
In the bottom half of the sixth inning, when they did score those two runs, they pressured Scio by loading up the bases and were able to cash in on the runs.
And though they weren’t able to sustain that offense into the seventh inning to try to pull off the comeback, it was a good game and Dayton knows that they got plenty of time to get back on track in time for the postseason.
“We really clutched up and I really appreciate my defense on top of that because they’re the best defense in 3A,” said Upmeyer. “We know what we need to work on. We know that these next five games, we have to win them or it’s go home and I don’t want to go home.”
Upmeyer struck out nine batters. Rachel Baumholtz and Lexi Upmeyer each led Dayton’s offense with two hits. Macy Johnson led the Logger offense with three hits.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
