Riverhawks overwhelm Madras in Tri-Valley opener

THE DALLES — The No. 6-ranked The Dalles High Riverhawks started their 12-game OSAA Class 5A Tri-Valley Conference softball schedule with an impressive offensive performance in a 26-0 win in three innings over the Madras High White Buffaloes April 23.

The contest ended early via the 15-run mercy rule. A team with a lead of 15 runs or more after three innings earns the victory, according to OSAA rules.

The victory extended the Riverhawks’ winning streak to six. The Riverhawks (1-0 TVC, 14-2 overall), guided by second-year Coach Duane Witter, faced the struggling White Buffaloes (0-3 TVC, 3-11 overall) again Monday at home (results were after CGN press deadline).

“The girls definitely went out there and they did their due diligence, and we wrapped up the win fairly quickly at Madras,” said Witter. “Everybody played really good. We were actually missing a couple of girls and so we only had nine players. Since it was such a lopsided score, we had some of our freshmen getting more playing time than what we normally do and that was good to see.”

The Dalles senior duo of starting pitcher Siyra Faulkner and relief pitcher Maddy Sagapolutele combined on a four-hitter. The Riverhawk offense produced a season-high 20 hits. Sagapolutele (3-for-4), junior Morgan Donivan (3-for-4) and Dufur High junior Cadence Young each hit home runs. Junior Edie May (4-for-5), senior Hailey Johnston (3-for-4) and senior Makenzie Barrett (3-for-4) also made significant contributions to the Riverhawk offense.

The Riverhawks will play defending TVC champion Gladstone High Gladiators (2-1 TVC, 8-7 overall) in a 4:30 p.m. home game April 29 at 16th Street Ballpark in The Dalles.

“We feel confident that if we can effectively get some hits off of Gladstone’s pitcher (junior Ashlynne Franssen), then we should have a good chance to win on Wednesday,” said Witter. “She’s (Franssen) a very good athlete and my hat goes off to her, but I’ve heard she’s been nursing an injury. I hope to see her, and I hope that she’s well, because we don’t ever wish to see any player unable to play because of an injury.”

The Riverhawks have the No. 1-ranked offense (11.62 runs per game average), which is the best out of all 28 Class 4A squads. The Riverhawks squad (five seniors, five juniors) has scored 186 runs this season.

“I just think that we’ll continue scoring lots of runs because we have lots of players who can really hit pretty well and we have a real good solid defense too,” said Witter.