By Jeremy McDonald

jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com

AMITY, Ore.–  It felt quite like Groundhog Day for the Scio offense Wednesday afternoon against Amity.

Granted this time they led 2-0 instead of trailing 1-0 going into the fourth inning of their 12-0 win over the Warriors, but it did test the Loggers defense to stay with it until their bats arrived once more.

And when they did.  Four runs in the fourth, three more in the sixth and three runs in the seventh were great, but it’ll be nice to see it from the start instead midway through the game.

“We were really slow at the beginning and then we got comfortable.  But it was definitely more comfortable for me  in the fifth inning when we decided that we were going to swing the back and see what happens.  It was definitely easier for me to go out there with more confidence,” Scio pitcher Myleigh Cooper said.

For Amity, coming off of their 14-0 five-inning defeat to Yamhill-Carlton on Tuesday night, being able to come out sharply as they did was a plus.  Flushing out the bad as they were in the game Wednesday down two going into the fourth inning.

“I think we did really good.  We were a lot more confident today and we just came out looking for a win while shaking off the YC game,” the Warriors pitcher Fawn Trejo said.  “I think we need to wake up our bats mostly.  We have a good defense, we’re just lacking in hitting right now.”

But slowly, the Loggers began to time out Trejo.  Gracie Mask, Taryn Ramsay, Kylee Baumgartner and Cooper all drove in runs in the top half of the fourth inning.  Amity loaded up the bases in the bottom half of the fifth before Cooper and her defense shut the door and Scio opened up their lead some more in the sixth.  Erica Simmons and Khloe Free each drove in runs with the Loggers taking advantage of a throwing error to score another run in the frame, leading 9-0 going into the bottom half of the sixth inning.

It felt like the offense was pretty uniform in their approach once Scio began to find their groove.  Cooper drove two more in the seventh, as did Simmons with another RBI in the final frame.  With Dayton coming up on Friday in a doubleheader, they’re hoping they can start stronger and not waiting until later in the game to wake up the bats as in their previous games.

“We just have to decide early in the game that we need to swing early in the count and swing more.  That’s just going to bring our odds up when we’re at-bat, that’s our biggest thing,” Cooper said of her offense.  “They’re all fantastic players and they’re all should have that confidence up at the plate.”

The Logger-Pirate doubleheader starts at 3pm while Amity is off until Tuesday when they are at Kennedy for a 4:30pm game against the Trojans.

Photos By Jeremy McDonald