By Jeremy McDonald

jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com

AURORA, Ore.–  Just trying to get a hit.  Contact.  Anything really.

Faced with their first true test of the season against Junction City, the North Marion softball team was in a 1-0 hole in the fifth inning.

Coming up to plate following Ally Umbenhower’s at-bat with runners at second and third base with one out, Tori Harper was just looking to get on base.

“I was looking for contact really,” she described the at-bat.  “My other hits weren’t that good, I was just looking to get on base.”

And did she.

Harper swings, sends the ball out and it dropped.  One run comes in, ties the game.

There was some confusion out in the field as another run comes in as the Lady Huskies took a 2-1 lead.

Following an out by Kelsie Henry, it was Mica Harrington’s turn on the mound to keep the lead intact on defense.

After a quick sixth inning, it came down to the North Marion defense versus the offense of the Tigers.  Both offenses can produce runs; Junction City scored 57 runs entering this game, the Huskies, with 69.

The North defense, though tired, was loose from their 12-5 victory before this game against North Eugene.  They knew they had to stay on their toes.

Fatigue showed, but North Marion didn’t break.

With a runner at third base, the Tigers faced two down and on their last hope.  Both teams and the crowd knew a hit could force possible extra innings if the Lady Huskies couldn’t score in the bottom half of the frame and an out could would end the game.

The latter would occur as a dribbler went towards the third base line, and as the Junction City runner went for home, the out was converted to end the game at first base.

Trust was there said Harrington.  All she needed to do was stay composed on the mound.

“Just pretty much keeping composure on the mound, trusting my teammates that are backing me up behind me,” she said.  “Just trying to get that ball to home plate pretty much and doing as much as I can for my teammates.”

Henry described this game as ‘exciting and fun’.

“It’s exciting, it’s fun,” described Henry.  “We were tired coming off the first game.  It was a long game, but we pulled through in that one inning and it helped us a lot.”

North Marion hasn’t had a game this close since the 5-0 loss to La Salle Prep on March 16, but Lady Huskies Head Coach Rachel Camp knew the long term effects of this game can be beneficial to her team moving forward to the rest of the non-league and Oregon West Conference schedule.

“I’m hoping that every chance that we get to work on our mental toughness is beneficial,” said Camp.  “Our league is hard, we have a very tough league with some very good opponents and we have to have that mental toughness to make it through.

“You can’t give anything up and if we happen to give something up, we got to get it back.  So I think that’ll carry us through the rest of the preseason and into our regular season.”

North Marion has an opportunity to carry this momentum and take their five-game winning streak into yet another tough challenge in Astoria Wednesday afternoon at home.

PHOTO GALLERIES FROM BOTH N.EUGENE AND JUNCTION CITY GAMES (PICTURE BY JEREMY MCDONALD)

Jeremy McDonald is a professional sports journalist in the Salem/Portland area and is a member of the Society of Professional Journalist in Oregon with B.S. degrees from Southern Oregon University in Journalism (2011) and Health/PE (2013).  Got a story idea? Email him at jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com or on Twitter at @J_McDonald81