HANNAH MCNERNEY connects with a pitch during a game earlier this season. McNerney has been HRV’s go-to pitcher this season, throwing 40 innings and striking out 33 batters. She also has the second-best batting average for the Eagles (.342).
HANNAH MCNERNEY connects with a pitch during a game earlier this season. McNerney has been HRV’s go-to pitcher this season, throwing 40 innings and striking out 33 batters. She also has the second-best batting average for the Eagles (.342).
Diving headfirst into play with early-season matchups against some tough 6A teams, the HRV softball team has been tested often through their 13 nonleague games and are anxious to move forward with their Columbia River Conference schedule.
The Eagles will enter their league debut Saturday — a doubleheader against Hermiston (6-7) in Hood River that starts at noon — with a 6-7 record. The team lost their last two games of the season — a 10-3 loss to 6A Westview (10-2) and a 6-8 loss on the road to Mountain View (5-7) Tuesday, but despite those hiccups, still has a No. 10 state ranking, serving as a testament to the difficulty of the teams they have played so far this season.
“Our nonleague schedule was great preparation for our league schedule,” said HRV Head Coach Eric Keller. “It helped us to realize that they are an incredibly talented team. Quickly we learned that every game requires our best effort.”
Keller said that “In reality, the whole team is getting better and competing every day,” and the talent runs deep in the Eagles dugout. Zoe Munn, who has been an offensive threat since her freshman year on the HRV varsity roster, is having another good season, leading the team with 18 RBI in 36 at bats and is third on the team in batting average (.333) with players who have had at least eight plate appearances, tied with Lauren Decker, who has a team-high 15 hits this season. Emilie Ellifritz is leading the way with a .500 average in 16 at bats, while Haylee Baker has proven herself to be a crafty base runner, topping the HRV stat sheet with eight steals.
On the mound, Hannah McNerney has been the workhorse for the Eagles, tossing 40 innings this season and striking out 33 batters, posting an ERA of 2.975. Kaylin Winans has also had a good season, throwing 21 innings, striking out nine, to record a team-best ERA of 1.667. Winans also leads the team with 61 putouts and five assists on 71 total chances (.930), followed by Makenzie Chambers, who has been perfect with 44 putouts and nine assists on 53 total chances (1.000).
The Eagles will need all hands on deck if they are to make their goal of hosting a home playoff game and make progress in what is a typically challenging league — so challenging that despite hovering around a top 10 ranking at the end of last season, the Eagles did not qualify for a play-in game for the second year in a row. This year’s conference provides some tough competition. Pendleton’s softball program has been deadly, and enter league play with a No. 1 ranking in 5A, posting a 12-2 record and a runs scored/allowed ratio of 88 to 25. Hermiston is 6-7 with a No. 12 ranking. However, The Dalles has struggled mightily this season, only winning one game out of 12 contests, and is ranked 26th out of 31 teams.
Keller, however, is not writing the Riverhawks off, noting that “even The Dalles is going to be a fight of a game.”
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