By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
HILLSBORO, Ore.– Faced with the ending of their season, the NW Dirtbags 18U squad dug deep when they needed it the most.
Coming off a heartbreaking defeat on Friday morning in the TCS World Series Gold Bracket, the Dirtbags fought with the NW Rampage 18U squad to keep their season alive into Saturday.
For the first four innings of the game, their bats weren’t there. They only had a Cassidy Crabtree double during those opening innings, but saw Charly Upmeyer and their defense clutch up that kept it to a 1-0 deficit entering the fifth inning.
That was when their offense backed their defense.
With clutch hitting, the NW Dirtbags plated three runs. Kaitlyn Webb, A. Adams and Crabtree each drove in a run that pushed the Dirtbags ahead 3-1 going into the bottom half of the inning.
“We got a spark on defense. We had a shutout inning and we got fired up. it touched a nerve and we just started going,” said Crabtree. “It was nice getting a couple of runs in and getting a cushion, we just had to lock-in and be up.
That spark was big in giving the Dirtbags some more wind in their sails to close out the game. Josie Barker came in for relief for Upmeyer in the fifth inning. The YC-grad fed off the energy as the Dirtbags met the Rampage’s bats with strong fielding and defense.
“It was big because we were in our heads so bad and to come out like that and to finish, that was big,” said Barker. “We just got to stay in it. stay out of our heads and go hard the whole time.”
Crabtree led the offense with three hits and drove in a run in the elimination game. Addi Tuning had the other multi-hit game in the advancement game.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
