By Jeremy McDonald

jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com

DALLAS, Ore.–  This matchup lived up to the billing between Dallas and Silverton Softball Monday afternoon.

Both squads entered the Mid-Willamette Conference game at Dallas High School sitting undefeated in league, the Dragons sat ahead of the Foxes in the standings just because Dallas played one more game than their Silverton counterparts. 

And through the first innings, both Kadence Morrison and McKenzee Petersen each had one-hitters going in the Dragons 3-0 win over the Foxes.

Matter of fact outside of a three-run inning by Dallas in the fourth inning, a run coming the way of a Jordan Creswell sacrifice fly and a Clara Woosley two-run home run, it was one of those classic defensive battles.

“Yeah, just try to stay relaxed and keep the simple things in mind and that’s how you play the game.  Stay strong mentally and play our game and that’s what we did,” starts Woosley.  “(That fourth inning) felt huge to get the pressure off, relax and play our game.  It just felt amazing.”

It was a frustrating game for sure for the Foxes, who were right there with the Dragons.  But with five games in six days this week in total, they have plenty of opportunity to bounce back and rebound from Monday’s defeat.

“It lights a fire, we wanted this so badly.  So we just have to get our heads in for the next game,” starts Silverton’s Morgan Stadeli of the game Monday.  “It’s just the mentality of backing up our pitcher, she’s working so hard for us and we were out there on the field.  That’s our plan, back her up.  For us, it just shows us that if you get up you need to stay up and not let the other team in.  Unfortunately that’s what happened to us today.”

Petersen struck out six for Silverton, allowing four hits in the defeat. Morrison struck out nine while allowing two hits as the two defenses will look to duplicate Monday’s success again in their next game.  The Foxes will play at Crescent Valley Tuesday while Dallas will host West Albany on Wednesday.

Photos By Jeremy McDonald