By Jeremy McDonald

jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com

SALEM, Ore.–  Last time McKay and West Salem met on April 5, the Royal Scots had a 4-0 lead on the Titans before West rallied back to win it 5-4.

Since then, leading up to Wednesday’s rematch versus McKay, West had three shutouts while the Scots broke a 20-game Greater Valley Conference losing streak the very next game.

The rematch was expected to be as competitive as the first, and it was for the first two-and-two-third innings before the Titans’ used a two-out rally in the third to open the game up and took momentum in a 13-0, six-inning game.

“It’s important,” said West Salem’s Brody Wittman.  “Our guys are just doing their jobs hitting the ball.  We got rolling a little bit and that’s what we expect. “

For McKay’s third baseman Alan Cornejo, he knew that his team had a great start against a very tough opponent.

“We started off pretty good for the first couple of innings,” said Alan Cornejo.  “But they’re a good team, they hit the ball in the right places.  They’re a discipline team, they did their job, we just weren’t there for the whole game.”

It was a great start of the game for the Scots, holding the Titans (13-3-1, 9-0 GVC) to one run on one hit, the lone run came off a Sacrifice RBI Hit.

Offensively, McKay had runners in scoring position in both the first and second innings, capitalizing on Logan Johnson’s walks and hitting him twice in the opening frames.  But couldn’t muster the tying run or a go-ahead run.

The Scots defense continued its stout play entering the third, getting two quick outs before back-to-back hits and a wild pitch allowed Wittman to start opening the gates of runs for West.

Wittman gets a RBI hit, Ross McConnell to follow and in a blink of the eye, it was 6-0 Titans thanks in part to five hits, a error and a walk.

“I don’t know, it’s one of those days where we start off a little bit slow,” said Wittman.  “We got it rolling though and once we started getting those first few hits, it became contagious when we start hitting the ball pretty well.”

McKay couldn’t duplicate their first two innings of offense in the third, fourth or fifth innings despite their defense slowing the bats of West Salem to one run over the next two innings off an error.

“That’s the team we are,” said Cornejo.  “We’re a good first half team.  First couple of innings, we come out good, (then) we just fall off.  We just got to compete all the innings.  We just got to come out fighting, don’t let up.  No matter what happens, just keep going.”

The Titan’s would push their lead to over ten in the sixth inning as Chris Godly of the Scots picked up their third and final hit of the game in the bottom half of the frame.

At 9-0 in league play, Wittman explains their success up to this point in the season.

“We’re just taking it one game at a time,” he said.  “It’s just our approach, it’s what our coaches preach so we don’t take anyone differently, the same way.  Try to win every game, know the situation and then play the game and have a lot of fun.”

McKay (4-13, 1-8 GVC) who are harboring 11 underclassmen to seven seniors, know that every game in the GVC is a test for them to get better and to grow for the future.

“Our whole league’s tough,” said Royal Scot Head Coach Jerimy Kelley.  “Every team is good so we see that every day, we just have to learn how to do things the right way and continue to get better and grow.”

For the West Salem Titans, it’s onto McNary, who defeated North Salem 7-0 Tuesday.  For the Scots, it’s onto West Albany at West Albany High School.

PHOTO GALLERY (PICTURES BY JEREMY MCDONALD)