By Jeremy McDonald

jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com

TURNER, Ore.–  The Cascade bats had a tough time timing up Crook County’s Raelynn Weaver Tuesday afternoon in the 4A State Playoffs at Cascade High School.  And when they did make contact with one of the Cowgirls pitches, the Crook County defense backed up their senior arm.

Going into the bottom of the seventh inning in the Cowgirls 8-4 win over the Cougars, Crook County had held Cascade to a Amyah Miranda single in the bottom half of the fourth inning.  With their bats making the trip over the Cascades, they matched their defensive energy to help the Cowgirls jump out to a 8-1 lead going into that last half frame of the contest.

“It’s a blessing to have my defense there when we needed them and just to be so strong backing me up, it was a very good game today,” Weaver said. “It was very good for us to make sure we were hitting in the bottom of our line up and the top.  We need to be consistent and carry it on.”

Weaver went on to strike out ten and overall held the Cougars of Turner to three hits total.  The last two hits, coming the way of Malia Scanlan and Hayley Kastl, were part of a late game rally by Cascade.  The Cougars loaded up the bases with one out following Scanlan’s single, Kastl drove two home off of her single that made it 8-3 and Katlyn Webb forced an error to bring Cascade back within four with the tying run at the base.

But it wasn’t meant to be.  Weaver forced a pop out following Webb’s at-bat and struck out the next to close out the 8-4 road victory.

A heartbreaking defeat nonetheless for Cascade, who exits the postseason for the second-straight year in the first round.  The squad does return all but two seniors going into next Spring, a squad with another year’s worth of experience.  

“We just didn’t have it today, they were just better than us today,” said Cascade Head Coach Marty Jeppsen. “We had the same conversation last year, losing a close one to Scappoose.  I think it takes  a year for the freshmen.  We added a lot of freshmen last year and we added a lot of freshmen this year.  Sometimes it takes a year.  They’re young, but very talented and I think they can go far.

“We brought the tying run to the on-deck circle twice in that last inning, gave ourselves a chance and they didn’t just roll over.  They fought, that’s encouraging to see.”

Jari Stegman struck out nine in four innings of work and Jaelyn Lowry struck out two in three innings pitching for Cascade.  

Danner Hemphill and Tylee Cossitt each drove in 2RBI’s for Crook County to lead the offensive charge.  Hemphill was one of three girls with multi-hit games for a Cowgirls squad now heading to play Henley on Friday in the 4A State Quarterfinals.  

The two squads met once before with the Hornets taking the April 3 game 15-12.  Familiar with their next opponent, Crook County will look to bring home another road win with the State Semifinals sitting in front of them.

“We need to be more pitch selective and have lights out defense and pitching to shut them down on their offensive side and be strong like we know we can,” Weaver said.

Photos By Jeremy McDonald