HRV SOFTBALL PLAYERS crowd around Lauren Decker (No. 2, above) after hitting a two-out, walk-off single to complete HRV’s comeback victory over La Salle during Wednesday’s first-round playoff game.
HRV SOFTBALL PLAYERS crowd around Lauren Decker (No. 2, above) after hitting a two-out, walk-off single to complete HRV’s comeback victory over La Salle during Wednesday’s first-round playoff game.
A two-out, walk-off single by Lauren Decker was the perfect cap to the HRV softball team’s (No. 6, 18-10) impressive rally Wednesday, erasing a 2-0 deficit against the La Salle Falcons (No. 11, 17-11) to come back and win 3-2, propelling the Eagles into the quarterfinals of the 5A state tournament. HRV played Columbia River Conference rivals Pendleton (No. 3, 24-4) on the road Friday evening (results unavailable at press time), with the winner advancing to a semifinal matchup with either Putnam or Marist Catholic.
After errors helped put Kaylin Winans and Emilie Ellifritz on base, along with a crucial single by Lizzy Weekly, Decker plated Grace Miller and cleared HRV’s dugout after smacking the game-winner on a hard grounder to left field in the bottom of the seventh. Her teammates mobbed her at the pitcher’s mound, celebrating the Eagles’ first win in the state tournament since 2014.
One of those teammates, Hannah McNerney, wasn’t surprised by the performance of the Eagles’ leadoff batter.
“It was really amazing. I knew she was going to do something like that because she always comes in clutch when we need her,” she said, adding, “We usually score around the sixth or seventh inning. We always wait right until the very end to score. So, I knew our team, by then, would score some points and I knew, this game, that we weren’t just going to give it to (La Salle). We were going to take it from them.”
HRV Head Coach Eric Keller wasn’t rattled by the deficit, nor caught off-guard by the rally either, noting that Decker “just has a way of fighting,” hitting her walk-off after going 0-for-2 to start the game.
“I was fine. We’ve been here before. We’ve had walk-offs, we’ve had the pressure on us. Our nonleague schedule, our league schedule prepared us for this situation, and the girls have been here and they’ve been more confident that they can get it done… I had all the confidence in the world that these girls could get it done,” he said. “It’s a tribute to their hard work. This is a great team. We have great team dynamics. We have great athletes on this field. And it’s fun.”
The Falcons’ only runs came off a two-run single in the second inning, during which the Eagles committed their only error of the game. HRV responded with a tactical third inning. La Salle’s freshman pitcher, Alexis Kemp, dinged Decker with a bad pitch. Decker advanced to second on a steal, and then to third on a sacrifice bunt by Haylee Baker. Zoe Munn then grounded out on the next play, but bought Decker enough time to make it home.
La Salle was able to put runners on base in the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings, and advanced as far as third base, but the Eagles’ defense did enough to prevent them from scoring. Then in the bottom of the sixth inning, with two outs, McNerney gave what Keller called “a good lift to the girls,” stepping up to the plate, and crushing the third pitch she saw over the center field wall for a homerun that tied the game.
“That was my first high school homerun and it was pretty cool,” McNerney, who is a junior, said. “The first pitch, I swung at the changeup and I was swinging for the fence, and then I decided to relax and hit the ball, and it just went.”
Once again, McNerney was the starting pitcher for the Eagles. She was critical of her effort, noting, “Today was a little rough, but my defense behind me was there to back me up and they helped me out there.”
For McNerney, “a little rough” is apparently striking out nine batters over seven innings, while giving up four hits, three walks, and no earned runs. Keller called her performance, “brilliant.”
The Eagles turned their attention to Pendleton, one of the most formidable teams in the state, and one that has plenty of playoff experience. Since the first CRC softball season in 2011, the Buckaroos have made the playoffs every season and have made it to the state championship game four times, coming away with two titles. But the Eagles and the Bucks split their four-game series this year, with the Eagles handing Pendleton two of their four losses this season. HRV has been hungry this season too.
“I feel like our team has a lot of talent and I feel like we’re going to go far this year,” McNerney said. “I feel like this team, they all have their hearts in the game, and they all really want it.”
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In other CRC action, No. 15 Hermiston lost to No. 2 Marist Catholic by a score of 9-1 in their first-round game Wednesday.
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