Chemistry, Team Ball and a hair tie in the right pocket lead to softball championship on Saturday
The Dalles High School Riverhawks Softball team will head to Eugene after graduation on Saturday, June 3 to face the Henley Hornets for the state 4A Championship crown.
Riverhawks face No.1 ranked Henley in 4A Championship
By Tom Peterson
It gets no bigger than this.
The # 2-ranked Dalles High Girls Softball team faces off against the #1-ranked Henley Hornets for the 4A championship on Saturday at Jane Sanders Stadium at the University of Oregon.
Both teams have faced tough schedules and won out in their league games.
The Riverhawks stand at 25 wins, 3 losses. The Hornets, 22-3.
The game starts at 6 p.m.
Al Wynn will bring the play-by-play action on KODL 1440 AM, 100.7 FM, and KODL.com.
Tickets were still for sale this morning here.
Chemistry & Hard Work
On Thursday afternoon at practice, you wouldn’t know the game was just two days away.
The team met at 16th Street Ballpark at 4 p.m. and ran through their regular drills. JV Coach Duane Witter and Ryan LeBreton lent a hand hitting grounders shagging balls and tossing up some fly balls at the fence.
Running, warming up their arms, fielding balls, catching pop flies, batting.
It’s that work that matters, said pitcher Kennedy Abbas, senior.
“It takes a lot,” the right-hander said. “We’ve been going to countless team dinners and breakfasts to work on the team chemistry. So for success… you have to bond so strongly with each other.”
Riverhawk Pitchers Kennedy Abbas and Despina Seufaleumua looked choreographed as they threw some heat to catchers during practice on Thursday. It was fun to watch.
Many of these teammates have been working together since they were 10 years old or younger growing up on Cherry City Crush softball - Learning from multiple coaches as they perfected their skills.
Meet the Team
TDHS Roster for Saturday’s Championship game. Click to enlarge.
Both teams have tough pitching.
The Dalles is anchored by Abbas, tri-county conference pitcher of the year. She threw a no-no against Seaside in their first playoff game on May 23. At that point, she had pitched a total of 119 innings with 169 strikeouts.
On May 30th, Henley pitcher Annie Campos shut down the battle-tested Pendleton Buckaroos in the semi-final in the 8th inning. Henly managed to win 11-10 to get into the championship game after losing a 7-run lead.
Coaching Stacked
Coaches Jayme Scherrer, Lindy Macnab, Brooke Smith. Scherrer was on the TDHS softball runner-up team in the championship in 2004. Macnab helped take the championship in 1994. And Smith was a Division 1 player with the University of Washington, who hammered a grand slam on U of O during her career. Good company!
“It’s amazing,” said head coach Lindy Macnab. “This is what you dream about as a coach. It’s just outstanding.”
For Macnab as well. It’s her first season as head coach.
But she’s been there before as a player.
In 1994, she was part of the championship TD Girls Softball Team under coach Jerry Gordon.
She went on to play Division 1 ball with U of O. She knows the lay of the land.
Assistant coach Jayme Scherrer also made it to the championship game in 2004 under Coach Dane Way and took runner-up. Way is also on the edges, lending an ear and offering advice.
As Macnab talks about the beginning of the season, Duane Witter added a comment, referring to Macnab.
“Right person; Right place; Right time.”
Something up early on
Macnab said she was astounded when she saw the girls work the bats in the off-season.
And at tryouts in March, she and her coaches Scherrer and Brooke Smith and a cast of mentors knew they had something special.
“We sat in the dugouts and looked over the score sheets and said, ‘wow.’”
She had a problem every coach wants - a roster full of talented girls who were all working their tales off for a spot in the rotation.
Knocking the Skin off the Ball, Setting Records
Bunting during batting practice on Thursday as Bruno Mars poured out of the speaker in the background.
The Riverhawks have been relentless in the batting box - setting a state record for most home runs in a single season. They currently have 68 HRs on the season, which places them fourth in terms of the national record, according to TDHS Athletic Director Billy Brost. They could move to third with a few more bombs.
A Riverhawk gets caught up on their RBI stickers on her batting helmet on Thursday.
Henley can pound it out as well under pressure. The team knocked out four straight singles to beat Pendleton in the final inning for the chance to face the Riverhawks.
Common Opponents
Henley of Klamath Falls and the Riverhawks each played the Crook County Cowgirls three times this year.
The results were similar, but those Riverhawk bats provided some nice buffer in their wins.
TDHS beat the Cowgirls three times with scores of 5-2, 10-3 and 10-9.
Similarly, the Hornets bested them as well in scores of 9-7, 7-5 and 9-8.
The Riverhawks split with Pendleton in two games and the Hornets beat Pendleton once to reach the championship.
De-Fence
Catching one at the fence.
The Riverhawks have also been stingy on allowing runs, blanking 10 of their 25 opponents thus far. Shortstop and catcher Zoe LeBreton has been a big piece of that dominance and was named the Tri-county Conference player of the year.
And it’s all team ball.
Ten Girls on the team were selected for all-conference honors, Brost said.
Only Lakeridge was able to get into double digits on the Riverhawks in one of their three losses. And that game came down to two runs.
It was the last loss the team has suffered. It came on March 28 - more than two months ago.
Assistant Coach Jayme Scherrer cranks some balls to centerfield as Riverhawks made running catches.
In the semi-final against an up-and-coming Scapoose team provided a tight battle for the Riverhawks on Tuesday, May 30.
But a strong throw to home to cut a Scapoose runner before scoring helped win the game.
Coach Lindy Macnab sends a ground ball out to third on Thursday as the fielders made their throws to home, over and over.
“It solidified we belonged there,” said Brost. “And we deserved to play for the championship.”
No Slouches: Henley perceivers in Semi-Final
Henley Hornets Beat Pendleton in a nail-biter that went an extra inning on Tuesday, May 30.
The Hornets went into the sixth inning on some massive bats that included a three-run Homer bashed by Henley’s Layliana Segura. The score stood at 10-3 and Henley looked to cinch their spot in the championship.
But the resilient Buckaroos came back with five hits to cut the lead to 1 and then tied it on an error in the seventh.
Henley Pitcher Annie Campos silenced the Buckaroo batting order with three ks in the 8th.
And the Henley bats went to work. Anna Harper, Campos and Lily Fitpatrick filled the bases, and Natalie Hudson brought in the winning run on a hit.
Bring it On
“It’s going to be a good experience,” said Riverhawk Keiliani Crichton-Tunai, junior, who keeps a hair tie in her right back pocket for good luck. “I’m really excited. It’s good to make history.”
Ryan LeBreton knocks one down to third base as they drilled for about 45 minutes
They’re also brilliant
The team went third in their division for academics with a team average 3.72 grade point average - just 0.10 off from first-place Tillamook.
Seniors Abbas, Ella Smith and Lillian Schatz will graduate before the big game. Graduation starts at 10:30 a.m. at Amaton Field. They then board the bus for Eugene at noon.
“I’m feeling all the emotions,” Abbas said before starting practice on Thursday. “I’m so excited for us and I am excited and sad. It’s the last season.”
