By Jeremy McDonald
jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
SALEM, Ore.– It wasn’t an ideal way for them to end their first weekend together as a team, but they did stay with it and kept it close down the stretch.
Down 4-1 to the Rampage Royal 14U squad Sunday afternoon at Wallace Marine Park going into the fifth inning, RBI hits from Emmaline Nicholson and Brooklyn Sigfried had helped draw the Dragons to within one of the Rampage going to the sixth.
“For that game, our energy was up a lot more and we were cheering each other on. We were more confident in the box and we were getting base hits, getting on,” said Kadence Morrison.
“Yeah we came out better in our second game compared to our first game,” adds Nicholson.
Their first game of the day Sunday was a tough 9-2 game. Morrison was a tad-off as she battled through a thumb injury, coming in for relief of Laney Deloe in the fourth inning of this second game of Sunday. The pitching duo combined for 24 strikeouts over 27 innings in the circle over the course of five games, Morrison with 19 strikeouts to Deloe’s five.
Siegfried led the offense over the weekend with 6RBI’s as Morrison came in for relief, continuing Deloe’s trend in the circle by keeping the Rampage off the board.
“For our first tournament with us practicing together a few times I think we did ok, but I think we could’ve done a lot better,” Nicholson said, who drove in 2RBI’s against the Rampage.
Communication, hitting were some of the things they could’ve done better on, pointed Morrison. The squad couldn’t duplicate their fifth-inning success in their final at-bats of the game and of the Memorial Day Salem Invitational Sunday with the squad finishing 2-3 on the weekend.
Deloe would go on to drive in 3RBI’s and Madeline Scales contributed another 3RBI’s in the batter’s box.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
