By Jeremy McDonald

jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com

SALEM, Ore.— North got into the bracket, into the field of 32, into continuing their season and their incredible run.

But, their 4-3 6A OSAA Play-in win to do so over Willamette was almost not to be.

Down 3-1 entering the top of the fifth inning, the Viking defense were finding their groove after a tough first inning that illustrated three Wolverine runs on four hits and two errors; and Cameron Jolly continued that defensive trend upwards when he came in during that fifth.

“After they came in and scored we shut them down throughout the rest of the game,” “I think it was a pitching performance by Nick (Raska) and me.  Just staying ahead in strikes and stuff, that was really helpful for our defense.”

Jolly and the North defense got the outs they needed and the score remained 3-1.

But, by the sixth, that wasn’t the case because of the bats of the Viks.

Cole Hamilton, who scored the lone run up to the bottom of the fifth, scored the game winner off a groundball from second base to cap a three-run inning as the North Salem Vikings shook that playoff jitter as they rallied.

“We’re kind of used to playing from behind because we mess up for in the first couple of innings,” said Hamilton.  “I don’t know today we had early jitters pretty much because it’s some guys first playoff-type baseball, but for us seniors we’ve been through playoff baseball.

“I don’t know, it’s exciting scoring, especially from second on a groundball and scoring the potential winning run which was crucial I thought.  It’s exciting.”

As the home Schaefer Stadium crowd roared to life after Hamilton’s score boosted the moral of the North troops as they quickly got two runs on the board by the seventh inning.

Jolly would however give up back-to-back walks as the senior had runners on first and second base.

It was a battle even with the walks, but following the two walks, Noah Boatwright picked up a groundball from his shortstop position, tags second and throws to first hoping one of the two tags counted.

“That last inning, we had a veteran pitcher on the mound, he’s been in that situation many times before so, it was just another inning,” Boatwright described that final inning.  “Get three outs, get the win go play in the playoffs.”

They did, ending the game and extending the season of the Vikings while the dugout of North Salem rushed the field to cheers of their home crowd.

“Ah it’s real fun,” said Boatwright on the win.  “It’s real fun to make that last out with runners on base, there’s no better feeling.”

“It was pretty tense and just crazy when the game ended,” said Jolly.  “I had confidence honestly in our defense.  The ball was hit and I missed it but I know Noah has huge range.  It was intense, a super exciting win.”

A game like this, a play-in game, is perfect to get the jitters out  and with teams out there, like a possible match-up with Clackamas in the first round, it’s a confidence builder.

“I told them early that we can’t hit 10-run homeruns, we just got to pick at it and stay with it and we did that,” said Viking Head Coach Chris Lee on the game.  “Our pitchers started to hold them down and settle down after a shaky first inning of defense.  It was good to gritting and gritting and we finally got something going there in the fifth inning.

“Any time it’s a win or go home then it’s tough on everybody.  So we’ve talked about before that there’s a quote from Tommy Lasorda that says, ‘Pressure is when you start think about failure’ and if we start thinking about being successful and competing, we don’t have to worry about failure so we’ll be ok.”

To say the least, the North Salem Viks overcame any pressure they might had and got some valuable playoff experience for the next round and entering Senior Night Wednesday.

Follow Jeremy McDonald on Twitter at @J_McDonald81 or like jmcdonaldmedia on Facebook!

PHOTO GALLERY (PICTURES BY JEREMY MCDONALD)