By Jeremy McDonald

jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com

WILLAMINA, Ore.–  After a delay in Senior Night until Wednesday’s 2A/1A Playoff game against league rival St. Paul, Willamina’s Laney DeLoe made the most of it.

Her pitching cut through the gusty winds and drizzle as DeLoe had a no-hitter through three innings.  The Buckaroos Josey Edwards broke up the no-hit bid in the Top half of the fourth inning, but that single happened to be the lone hit in the contest for the visiting St. Paul squad.  

The Bulldog defense backed DeLoe up, the nine outs they fielded and completed helped the senior pitcher who struck out 12 in the second round victory that advanced Willamina back to the 2A/1A State Quarterfinals for the second-straight year.

“It’s super fun, I had a ton of fun.  It gave me a little more boost in wanting to win because I came through and see everyone, not sad necessarily, but we care about each other and we all have a really good relationship.  We came through and tried to play a good game,” said DeLoe of her performance.  “Our defense was alright.”

There was some rust with the bats, it’s been 11 days since the Bulldogs last game while the Buckaroos were coming off their first-ever playoff win back on Monday.  So there was some momentum on the side of the St. Paul’s defense that kept Willamina off the board until the third inning when the Bulldogs plated their first three runs.  

The Bucks continued to create headaches for the Willamina bats.  Slowing down the run production that the Bulldogs are capable of achieving as they went the distance with Willamina after falling to the Bulldogs in run-shortened games during the regular season.  

St. Paul finished the year 20-8 and only graduated five from this year’s historic team as the Buckaroos will look to return to the Round of 16 in 2025.

“We’ve been playing together for a while, the improvement from freshman year to junior year…especially for the seniors, it’s been amazing,” said St. Paul pitcher Amelia Cavazos, who struck out four pitching.  “Chemistry.  Chemistry is pretty important, especially with a bunch of new freshmen coming in next year.  Fundamentals, we need to do that.”

As for Willamina, Friday’s game is another day with that Groundhog Day effect with another 2A/1A Special District 1 opponent in Clatskanie.  For the fourth time, they’ll play each other with a berth in the 2A/1A State Semi-finals at stake and the Bulldogs will hope that Wednesday’s game was a case of getting the jitters out going into the next one.

“It was good to get all of our jitters out, there was some nervous energy for the first time.  I know (Clatskanie) wants to bring it on Friday.  Just fighting, every single at-bat, every play you have.  Fighting and we all try to do that, everyone tries to make a good play,” said DeLoe.

Photos By Jeremy McDonald