By Jeremy McDonald

jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com

KEIZER, Ore.—There were some nerves obviously in Stayton’s Cody Leming’s first pitching of the season.  But the junior overcame those nerves and went to work against the 5A squad in front of him with Chruchill.

For the first two innings on defense, Leming and his defense had to be on their toes.  Waiting for their offense to roll around as they eventually did in the 10-0 win in their Volcanoes Stadium opener Wednesday afternoon. 

Leming surrendered three of his four hits over that span, but Leming also struck out six of his ten batters.  Showcasing that he wasn’t going to shy away from putting the ball in play while on the mound.

“For the first go-around, I was kind of nervous going into the first (inning).  But after the first inning, I felt good and ready to go,” said Leming.  “We needed a few innings to warm up.  Our defense was working, we’ve had a couple of shutout innings.  Our defense played well and after that we picked up on the pitcher.”

Eventually the offense came around in the bottom of the second inning.  Timing out Emilio Fonseca for five second inning runs and got a sixth on him in the bottom of the third inning before Roman Dean came in.

But the momentum with the Eagles bats were there, finishing the third inning with four more runs.  Their second five-run inning to back up Leming and their defense in the five-inning victory, Stayton’s first of the season.

“The first inning we definitely struggled trying to stay back a little bit with their velocity.  Our coach talked about it, we just needed to slow everything down and then we just hit the ball,” Nick Frith said.  “Just make sure we stay back.  Everyone’s hitting the ball and we hit through the line up like that, just having base-hits after base-hits…that’s how you win games.”

Frith and Eli Brown each had two hits in the game with Brown leading the team with 3RBI’s and Frith contributing one.  Leming and Connor Hollenbeck each had an RBI apiece in the victory.

The Eagles continue the Volcanoes Tournament Thursday when they play St. Helens at the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes Stadium.  First pitch is at 7pm.

Photos By Jeremy McDonald