By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
DAYTON, Ore.– With the postseason beginning next week, Astoria and Dayton treated Friday’s matchup as a valuable tune-up for what both programs hope will be deep playoff runs.
The teams entered ranked No. 3 in 4A and 3A, respectively, following demanding league schedules and brought the energy on defensively. Going into the seventh inning, it was a 1-0 ballgame in favor of Astoria.
Astoria took the lead in the third inning on a leadoff solo home run by Maggie Falleur, while Taryen Wray and Astoria’s defense held the Pirates to one hit through six innings
Their energy was up. Coming off a tough Cowapa League where they finished third behind Scappoose and St. Helens, Astoria was hoping to get back on track. And they seemingly did just that in what became a 3-0 road victory for the 4A squad.
“It definitely brought up our energy and our confidence because league brought us down a little bit, but this game really brought it up,” said Wray. “We just have to have more energy and really want it.”
Wray’s offense produced two runs in the top half of the seventh, one run coming off a Hailey Svensen triple and another run coming off an Aryana Adams Sacrifice fly. It gave Wray some breathing room as the junior closed out a two-hitter and struck out 12 batters in the process.
“I try my best for my team a lot. (The defense) did great, I liked it a lot,” said Wray of her performance.
For the Pirates, the defense was there throughout. On Senior Night, Rachel Baumholtz started and pitched three innings before Charly Upmeyer took over in the fourth. Despite allowing nine hits, they stayed within striking distance as their offense came alive late.
And that was the lone issue for the Pirates in Wednesday’s game, their bats came to life a little too late though they had a chance to really do some damage. Especially in the sixth and seventh innings when they had runners on. It was a good reminder in making those plate adjustments sooner rather-than-later.
Dayton Head Coach Frank Baumholtz pointed towards the pitchers that Vale and South Umpqua have and the pitcher’s they’ve seen in league with Taylor Bradford from Yamhill-Carlton and Gracie Ferguson from Scio, all are similar to what they saw from Wray on Wednesday and that they’ll see from them again in the postseason ahead.
“They’re all firm, they all locate and you got to make the adjustments right out the gate in the first inning compared to waiting until it’s late,” said Baumholtz. “I told the girls that if you do it the whole game, the balls are going to start to drop. We hit three or four balls really hard that they caught in the outfield and if we do that earlier, there’s more opportunities.”
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
