Oregon City sophomore threaded the needle with a single straight past second base in the bottom of the fourth inning to give the Pioneers a lead that they would never surrender against South Medford on Tuesday night in the OSAA Class 6A softball state semifinals game.
The 2-1 win is sending Oregon City back to the championship game, which they lost 1-0 to Tigard in 10 innings last spring.
The return to Jane Sanders Stadium on Saturday will come four days shy of a year since the last time the Pioneers competed in the title game. It’s a game that ace pitcher Lily Riley and the Pioneers have been thinking about nonstop since.
“I’m feeling excited,” the junior said. “We wanted this game really bad. It’s just really nice to see all of our hard work that we’ve put into this season pay off. Now we’re going back to the Jane.”
Against the Panthers on Tuesday, Riley pitched all seven innings, allowing three hits and one walk while striking out six.
Opposite Riley was South Medford’s Kaycee Hudson, who pitches all six innings for the Panthers. She allowed four hits, walked two and struck out six.
South Medford scored its one run in the top of the sixth inning, showcasing the Panthers’ aggressive base running. With one out, Hudson hit a single to get onto first base. After being sacrifice bunted to second base, Hudson stole third base. At the next at bat, Kirsten Morgan was walked, but didn’t stop at first and made a run for second base. As the Oregon City defense looked at Morgan, Hudson was able to slide into home safely.
The inning, and the Panthers’ best shot at tying the game up, ended as Morgan was caught stealing home.
As South Medford dug deep into the bag of tricks to create offense, Riley said the Pioneers’ defense remained focused by maintaining trust in each other.
“Just remaining calm and having trust in the other eight people that are out there with you, you know,” Riley said. “Just having trust in each other that you’ll do the right thing with the ball and make the right plays. ”
The final out was a jumping backwards grab from shortstop Gina Allen with a South Medford runner on second base.
Not only are the Pioneers back in the state championship game, they are playing against a team they have a little bit of history with. Sheldon won its semifinal game 2-0 against Sherwood on Tuesday night. The Irish were one of just three teams to get the best of the Pioneers this spring — Sheldon won 2-1 on March 28 in the North Medford Spring Break Tournament.
The Irish, led by ace pitcher Payton Burnham, feel remarkably similar to Tigard last season. Sheldon has allowed only 18 runs all season and haven’t allowed a team to score since May 12 (going five games in a row with a clean sheet).
Last season, Riley and Tigard ace Makenna Reid fought in one of the state’s best-ever pitcher’s duels with the title on the line. Reid struck out a state championship game-record 21 batters while Riley struck out 14 as the teams fought to a 1-0 finish in 10 innings.
With that experience in the title game under her belt, Riley said she’s prepared to return to Eugene and raise the title herself this year.
“We’re ready,” Riley said. “We’ve been wanting to go back to the Jane all year. It’s been out goal. Respecting out opponent, we’re just going to go out there and play our best.”
-- Nik Streng, nstreng@oregonian.com, @NikStreng
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