When Estacada softball heard the ping of the hit, there were plenty of smiles in the dugout as they knew something special was brewing.
Though you can forgive some anxious fans for keeping those fingers crossed.
Rangers freshman McKenzie Trujeque had one of the biggest plays of the season in the bottom of the 7th inning against visiting Crook County. With a tie game, she smashed the ball deep middle, cruising to second base as the ball clanged off the back fence.
“I was confident because I knew I had done what I needed to for my team,” Trujeque said.
The game had been a rollercoaster of emotions — first Estacada leapt out to an 8-1 lead thanks to a pair of homers from seniors Emerson Bailey and Charlie Felix in the 4th inning. But then the Cowgirls began clawing back. The seeming back-breaker was a four-run 7th inning that also had Crook County celebrate a pair of home runs.
With each run the energy for the Rangers lagged, and when it became knotted at 8-8 things felt dire. But instead of crumbling, like they may have done earlier in the season, the team found new life.
“We talked about how our energy had dropped and we had to get back to where we were with our hitting earlier in the game,” Bailey said.
First the defense got off the diamond in that rough 7th inning with three-straight outs.
Then came Trujeque’s firecracker hit.
“My mind was just, ‘Make contact and don’t overthink it,’” she said. “If all I focused on was hitting the ball, I would hit the ball.”
Coach Clark knew what was coming the moment she made the play.
“When McKenzie hit that double I knew we were going to win it,” he said. “We weren’t making plays like that earlier in the year, but now we are and we are going to be a tough out down the stretch.”
It was a sentiment shared by Bailey.
“We were very confident because we had that runner in scoring position and knew what we had to do to get the win,” she said.
Though Trujeque wasn’t quite ready to call game and pop the sparkling cider, she did have a beaming smile on her face as she jogged to the dugout to allow fellow freshman, the speedy Bailey Reilly, to serve as her courtesy runner.
Then after a pair of walks, and a steal to third from Reilly, she made her game-winning move. On a wild pitch from Crook County, she sprung off the base to slide home for the win.
“It was very important for us as a team to show we don’t give up easily,” Bailey said. “We are willing to battle back when it gets tough like that.”
That score secured a vital 9-8 win for No. 14 Estacada (14-7, 8-4 League) over No. 9 Crook County (12-10, 7-4 League) Thursday evening, May 2, in a Tri-Valley Conference match.
“It was a tough one, we were up by a lot and should have finished it up,” Coach Clark said. “Crook is a good team, really came back and did something there.”
“We had to fight the entire game,” he added.
There was a lot of impressive hitting from both sides. Crook County’s first score was another home run — it was a day of partying beyond the back fence. That one was smacked by junior Kya Mozingo, her first in high school, who then got to keep the ball as a souvenir thanks to some gracious Rangers.
In that big 4th inning for Estacada, junior Chloe Cooper had a double that scored a pair of teammates, and then she scored on a steal home on a wild pitch by the Cowgirls. Cooper also had a single in the 5th inning that scored Bailey, making it 8-1.
“It was timely base hits when we had runners in scoring position, which was monstrous,” Clark said.
The win came at a key junction for the Rangers, who are fighting to secure a spot in the postseason. Beating Crook County, who they had lost two twice earlier this season, makes it six wins in the last eight games for the Rangers.
“We know we need to win as many as we can if we want that chance at playoffs,” Bailey said. “It is a bittersweet feeling, because we don’t want it to end but we want to go as far as we can.”
The final game of the season for the Rangers will be against The Dalles at 5 p.m. Friday, May 10.
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