by Wayne Lee – Sports Editor
It was May 5, and both the Eagle Point baseball and softball teams traveled to Central Point to take on rival Crater in the first game of a pair of three-game series. The Comets’ baseball team came in ranked first in the state, and the softball team was ranked second in the state according to the OSAA. Eagle Nation was not impressed.
The baseball team rolled to a 9-4 victory over the Comets while the Lady Eagles went extra innings to pull out a 7-4 victory. The two teams then played a doubleheader May 8 in Eagle Point where the baseball team made it a clean sweep with an 8-7 walk-off win in the opener followed by another walk-off victory by a 2-1 margin in the nightcap. Unfortunately, the Lady Eagles lost both of their games, 8-3 and 8-5.
Baseball
The Eagles opened last week at Crater and hit the ground running – well, actually walking. The Comets’ starting pitcher walked the bases loaded with one out and Eagle Point scored on an error by the catcher for an early 1-0 lead. However, Eagles’ starter Sean McFall also walked the first two batters he faced, one of which was caught stealing. Crater’s next batter doubled, and the Eagles decided to intentionally walk the next batter to load the bases. The strategy backfired when the next batter doubled up the middle to score two and gave the Comets a 2-1 lead. Little did they know; it was the last time they would see the lead.
Eagle Point answered back in the top of the third with a two-out rally. Skylar Tribur, Ryan McFall and Cooper White hit consecutive singles to tie the game. Collin Stockton then lashed a two RBI single to left, and Eagle Point was up 4-2.
The big blow came in the top of the fourth when Ryan McFall lead off with a walk and was bunted over to second. Stockton then came through with an RBI double in the gap. Colby Stockton was walked on four straight pitches and with two out, Colton Pierce hit a comebacker to the mound that bounced away and allowed everyone to advance and make it a 6-2 ballgame. Mason DeVry then singled up the middle, and the Eagles had a commanding 8-2 lead.
Crater was able to add a run in the bottom of the sixth and another in the bottom of the seventh, but it was too little, too late. Ryan Mc Fall went 2×3 and walked twice. He had a stolen base and scored twice. Stockton went 2×4 with a double and three RBI while DeVry was 1×3 with a run scored and two RBI.
The Comets then came to town for a pair of games on May 8 and found no joy in Mudville as the mighty Crater did strike out – twice. The opener saw the Comets scoring once in each of the first two innings. However, Eagle Point answered back in the bottom of the second. Sean McFall was hit by a pitch, Pierce singled, and DeVry drove a run-scoring single to left. With two outs, Ryan McFall also took one for the team and went to first base to load the bags, and a passed ball allowed Pierce to score, giving the Eagles a 3-2 lead.
Eagle Point added a run in the bottom of the third, but Crater answered with a run of their own in the fourth before exploding in the top of the fifth with three more. It began with two outs and two walks to put runners on. A single up the middle that was misplayed allowed Crater to score and go up 6-4.
Things didn’t look good when Crater added a solo home run in the seventh to up their lead to 7-4 and Eagle Point was down to their last three outs. However, the Eagles were not to be denied. Crater loaded the bases with one out by walking a batter and hitting the other two. Nugent then launched a run-scoring sacrifice fly to left. Pierce singled up the middle to drive in both White and Sean McFall and suddenly the game was tied. DeVry then stepped to the plate and delivered the walk-off, game-winning single to left to start the celebration.
DeVry led the offense going 3×4 with two RBI. Pierce went 2×4 with two RBI and a pair of runs scored while Nugent had a two-RBI double and scored a run. White got the win in relief of Nugent who threw 4.2 innings, giving up six runs (two earned) on just three hits while striking out four.
But wait. There was a game two to follow and as they say, “you ain’t seen nothing yet.” The two teams squared off again and once again it went the distance with the Eagles scoring the game-winning run in the bottom of the final inning for another 2-1 walk-off victory.
The Eagles drew first blood when they opened the game with consecutive singles by Ryan McFall and White. Two outs later Nugent singled up the middle to drive in White and Eagle Point was up 1-0.
The Comets came back in the top of the fourth with a leadoff double. After a pop-out, two more walks loaded the bases (one intentional) and a sacrifice fly scored a run to tie the game. It remained that way until the bottom of the seventh.
Nugent led off with a single to left and Pierce laid down a sacrifice bunt to put him in scoring position. Crater intentionally walked DeVry, but Skylar Tribur singled up the middle for the walk-off victory. Nugent went 2×3 with a run scored and an RBI and Tribur had an RBI single.
Softball
The Lady Eagles got a little payback of their own while in Central Point. Last season ended in a playoff game on the Comets home field where Eagle Point threw a no-hitter but still lost because of unearned runs. This time was going to be different.
It was a battle as Eagle Point drew first blood with a pair of runs in the top of the third when Riley Jacoby launched a two-run homer to deep centerfield to score both her and Elaina Almaraz. However, Crater answered right back with back-to-back one-out doubles and a two-out RBI single to tie the game at 2-2.
Thanks to a couple of errors in the bottom of the fifth, Crater was able to go up 3-2, but Eagle Point came back in the top of the sixth, refusing to give up. Martin smacked a one-out double up the middle and a misplayed single up the middle by Leonardo drove in the tying run to make it a 4-4 ballgame.
It ended up going to extra innings. With Jacoby on second to start the inning, Kady Ledbetter singled to right to put runners at the corners. A fielder’s choice scored Jacoby, Leonardo singled to right to drive in two more and they managed to score one more time thanks to a misplayed ground ball. Crater was able to add a single run in the bottom of the eighth, but it wasn’t enough.
Jacoby only went 1×3 but it was a two-run home run and she managed to score twice. Braylee Leonardo went 3×4 with a double and two RBI while throwing eight innings, giving up eight hits while striking out six. She threw 98 pitches, 66 for strikes.
While the Lady Eagles enjoyed the win, it didn’t last long. The Comets came to town and posted back-to-back wins, 8-3 and 8-5. While the Lady Eagles opened the first game with a run in the bottom of the first, the Comets scored four in the third, two in the fourth and two more in the sixth for an 8-1 lead. Eagle Point managed a pair of runs in their final at bat to make the final 8-3.
The Lady Eagles managed just six hits. Martin was 2×4 and Kady Ledbetter was 2×3 with an RBI. Leonard took the loss, giving up seven earned runs over five full innings, giving up nine hits while striking out five.
The final game was more of the same as Crater opened the nightcap by scoring twice in the first inning and three more in the second for an early 5-0 lead. The Lady Eagles came back in the bottom of the third with a two-out rally as Almaraz, Dean and Jacoby all singled to put the Lady Eagles on the board at 5-2. Kady Ledbetter then doubled down the right field line to score Jacoby, and they trailed 5-3.
Unfortunately, Eagle Point gave up three more runs in the fifth to fall behind 8-3 and Crater held on for an 8-5 win. Kady Ledbetter led the Eagle Point offense going 4×4 with three doubles and both an RBI and a run scored. Allison Martin had an RBI double and Reese Zirkle also had a double.
