By Jeremy McDonald

jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com

CANBY, Ore.– The next four days will challenge the North Salem baseball team  with consecutive games on top of consecutive games.

But after a Day One, 8-0 victory Tuesday versus Canby, it’s sure a boost for what is ahead, especially after their heartbreaking loss to Grants Pass a few days ago.

“Coming back like this is an amazing feeling,” said Cameron Jolly.  “Starting off the week with tough incoming games coming up.  I hope we come out like this every day from that hard loss.”

For Mr. Jolly, he came out strong on the bump in his complete game shutout that saw him fan nine batters.

His defense commanded the field for the remainder of the outs with plays when need be.

Great plays in the infield, spectacular catches in the outfield.  The Viking defense did it all Tuesday afternoon.

One of those fantastic catches in the outfield came in the sixth inning out in right field when the Cougars had runners on second and third that ended the inning and the scoring threat by Canby.

“I thought we did good,” said North Salem Head Coach Chris Lee. “We had one ball that we came up on a little bit, I ruled it a base hit but I thought our defense was sound all over the place.”

Offensively, Cole Hamilton led the way with a 3-for-3 day that featured a double and a RBI that came in the opening frame as the Vikings opened the game up 3-0 entering the bottom half of the frame.

But Noah Boatwright had a big play himself as the senior capitalized on a favorable pitch for a two-RBI single following a wild pitch for a run the following inning.

Lee enjoyed how his team capitalized on the Cougars pitching staff with good swings at the ball, but admits that his team still has some room to grow.

“We were putting positive swings on pitches when we were in positive counts,” Lee said.  “We still have room to grow (though).  There were times where we put defensive swings in positive counts.

“But for the most part we saw a guy who hucked a little bit and we were going after strikes and putting good swings on good pitches so I thought that was good.”

The Vikings will have plenty of practice on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday this week to help improve on that and carry some of this momentum over with minimal lay-over as they have games against Lakeridge, Sherwood and West Linn respectively.

Hamilton knows to carry Tuesday’s success over to their next task, against the Pacers, they got to focus on North Salem Baseball.

“We just get use to it, getting going and being energized,” said Hamilton. “We really emphasize being up and being worried about North Salem Baseball.  Who cares who we’re playing, we could be playing Molly Putt School or Jesuit or something.

“Who knows who cares?  It’s all about North Salem baseball.”

Jolly knows how hard this stretch will be, but he’s confident in his team’s ability to handle the adversity it is.

“It’s going to be rough but we have the pitching to handle it,” started Jolly.  “If we come out hitting like we did this game, we’ll be ready to go every game.”

NEXT: At Home versus Lakeridge 5p at Schaefer Park.

PHOTO GALLERY (PICTURES 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