By Jeremy McDonald

jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com

SALEM, Ore.– It seems as if the Murderers’ Row of the 1927 New York Yankees now have some competition with the NW Vandals 16U softball team.

Weird to think about, but the bats of the Vandals have struck gold whenever their bats have made good contact with the ball this Summer.

The squad channeled their inner Big Al and the Voodoo Emperor Jobu was on their side as they hit seven Ruthian Blasts Saturday morning.

Zoe Allen, Allictitie Frost, Kiani Nakamura, Mackenzie Scott, Abbi Covalt, Regan Davis and Allison Parker all sent the ball beyond the outfield fence in their 10-2, 17-4 and 12-2 wins Saturday to go 3-0 in Pool Play of the Salem Invite at Wallace Marine Park. Hitting wise as a team, they were 38-for-81 (.469 average) hitting with 26RBI’s in three games Saturday.

“It’s definitely a lot easier to play three games when we’re hitting the ball hard because It takes away the edge of the really close games,” said Covalt. “We were hitting the ball everywhere. So if we’re hitting the ball out, we were making them work for it.”

Covalt led the offensive charge by going 7-for-8 with 5RBI’s on the day. Allen also collected seven hits, going 7-for-9 with 4RBI’s.

The ebb-and-flow between the offense and defense flowed as easily you would hope for a slam slate as Parker, Frost and Aliyah Wilsey held their opposition to nine runs on 15 hits while striking out 21. Parker led the defense with nine strikeouts against Eugene Lightning in five innings with Wilsey contributing six strikeouts in three innings as the squad enters bracket play Sunday.

“Honestly it felt pretty good because we were doing super good on offense and just to lock it down on defense felt super good,” said Davis, who went 4-for-9 with 5RBI’s Saturday. “We need to bring the same energy tomorrow and if do, I think we’ll do super well.

Vandals 14U

After dropping a tough opening game to the 01 Diamonbacks 9-0 to win their next two games 7-4 and 5-3 over the Oregon Thunder Gonzales and Oregon Blaze 16A. Lacey Vasas struck out eight in six innings pitching. Stella Puckett, Brookelynn Jackson, Hallie Olson and Vasas each drove in 2RBI’s for the Vandals

Photos By Jeremy McDonald