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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (June 5, 2019)
COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL | WEDNESDAY, JUNE 5, 2019 | 3B CHAMPIONS from B1 Left: Nicki Derrick delivers a pitch against the Trojans on Friday. Top: Shortstop Halli Vaughn fi elds a grounder and records an out at fi rst in the seventh inning. Bottom: Hope Ward lays down a bunt. PHOTOS BY ZACH SILVA/CG SENTINEL going to happen,” said lead-off hitter Sofi a Alcantar. “As soon as she started throwing, we were perfectly fi ne.” Aft er Alcantar’s pop fl y to cen- ter, she had a message for the team. “(Sofi a) hits it hard, goes right to a person, runs into the dugout and she goes, ‘Guys, we can hit her. We can do this,’” said Derrick. “Even though she didn’t get on, she hit the ball hard and spread the confi dence among us.” Th at early contact and con- fi dence turned into a constant stream of runs as the Warriors scored in each of the following innings. Derrick’s double started the second inning as she was pushed around the bases by hits from Hope Ward and Natalie Draeger to give the team an early lead that they would never relinquish. While the Warriors were con- fi dent that they were going to win, they let everybody else know in the third inning as the team’s off ense exploded for six runs. It started with Alcantar getting walked, which was followed by a double from Riley Black. Five Warriors recorded hits in the in- ning to go with three batters be- ing walked and two errors from Kennedy. “We said, ‘Hey, look at that, we can hit this girl all day long and we can hit her hard.’ So they had that confi dence and they went out and made some great hits,” said Rice. “All the way through, one to nine. Everybody was hitting the ball well.” North Douglas fi nished with 14 hits in the game as a team. Drae- ger fi nished with four hits, three RBIs and scored two runs; Black had three hits and scored two runs; Derrick had two hits and scored three runs while Alcantar had two hits and scored two runs. Cydni Dill scored three runs and had three RBIs. Vaughn scored two runs. “No one wanted to give up. No one got down on anyone,” said Draeger, who was named player of the game. “I think the team was just really powerful today. Just had a really good hitting day.” Th e scoring didn’t stop there as North Douglas scored a pair of runs in the fourth, fi ft h, sixth and seventh innings. “We were never satisfi ed,” said Derrick. “You could just feel the energy in the dugout, we want- ed more. Our goal was to 10-run them in whatever inning that we could. Not just because we want- ed to go home but because we just wanted to compete. We wanted to be the best but we wanted to be the greatest. Th at was just the en- ergy across the whole dugout and that spread to everybody. Every- body was up and we wanted it.” SEMIS from B1 Left: Second baseman Riley Black scoops up a grounder against the Honkers. Right: Derrick fi res in a pitch as she recorded a no-hitter on the game. PHOTOS BY BECKY GERRARD walked three batters. But while she dominated from the pitching circle, she also came up with the only runs of the game. Aft er teammate Riley Black got on base in the fi rst inning, Derrick hit a homerun to give the team the lead. While the Honkers never truly threatened the Warriors, the trip to the state semifi nals was not something that anyone saw coming. Lakeview fi n- ished fourth in its league and won nine of their last 10 regular season games to earn the last spot in the playoff s. “When they walked out on the fi eld, they were relaxed. Th ey had nothing to lose. Th ey had already gone further than anyone thought they would. And they walked out there saying, we’re just going to play our game,” said Rice. “Which is a great way – if you can do that, that’s great because that takes a lot of the pressure off . If you’re just out there saying, hey, we’re going to play our best game and see what happens.” For North Douglas, the trip to the state championship is the second time in the last three years. Returning from that 2017 championship winning team includes Derrick, who was the start- ing pitcher that season as a freshman, Black, Joanna Alcantar, Sofi a Alcantar, Natalie Draeger and Hope Ward. “I’ve got some experience and good leadership. Still young. Only two of my girls on seniors but you know, so I’ll still be starting three freshman. But, fortunately we’ve got some expe- rience out there to kind of help calm them down,” said Rice. “But, I mean, walking into Jane Sanders Stadium is just going to be intimidating for all of them. So hopefully my girls that have been there before will be able to calm them down and keep them focused.” It is the fourth time North Douglas has been to the state championship in school history. Th e Warriors placed second in both 2001 and 2003. In the championship, the Warriors will face a familiar foe in Kennedy (22- 4). Th is is the sixth straight playoff s in which the two sides have played each other. QUARTERS from B1 helps everyone relax,” said Rice. With the team relaxed, North Douglas pitcher Nicki Derrick did what she does best: rise up to the mo- ment. Derrick allowed just four hits in the game and struck out 16 batters against a team full of talent. “Talking to other coach- es and getting ready for this team, one of the things they said was they hit the ball well. And one through nine, they said they don’t have a weak spot in their lineup,” said Rice. “And boy, I tell you, Nicki was doing so well that you could see the batters of Grant Union getting frustrated because they just couldn’t catch up to that ball.” Aft er the early North Douglas run, the teams traded chances but were unable to convert. Twice Grant Union had runners on third — and twice the Warriors got out of the jam. Th en it was time for the vis- iting team to get back on the scoreboard. In the sixth inning, the Warriors got another run across the plate before cap- italizing on some Grant Union errors to score three in the seventh to extend the lead to fi ve. Th e team fi nished with nine hits, in- cluding two from Joanna Alcantar, Riley Black and Cydni Dill. “We defi nitely made them make mistakes. Th ey had a few errors, a few over- throws, because they could see their season ending and they were panicked,” said Rice. “Don’t get me wrong, they’re a really, really good team. But they were try- ing to force that play when nothing was there.” With the win, North Douglas not only moved on in the playoff s, but the team — thanks to some upsets across the bracket — will host a home playoff game in the state semifi nals against No. 20 seed Lakeview. “We thought we were go- ing to stay the Road War- riors for awhile. And then Lakeview pulled off that big upset. Th ey were ranked number 20, every game they played last week were upsets,” said Rice. Aft er a slow start to the season, the Honkers won 12 of their last 13 games of the season to secure the last spot in the state playoff . Aft er three rounds of up- sets, the team that fi nished fourth in its league is now one of four teams left in the whole state. “I tell you, they’ve got me a little nervous. Now they’ve got to travel up and play us but apparently they travel really well,” said Rice. “We defi nitely can’t over- look them, we have to be ready for them.” FINALS from B1 took both quarterfi nal appearances (2016 and 2018) while the Warriors took the lone semifi nal game (2017). In that same span of years, both teams won their fi rst – and only – soft ball state titles with North Douglas winning in 2017 and Kennedy winning last season. “We’ve been at their place, they’ve been at ours, [head coach] Jesse [Rice] has been great and we’ve battled back and forth and whoever is the victor it’s like, OK, you guys got us this time or the other way around,” said Kennedy head coach Walt Simmons. “[Friday’s game] will be a lot of fun.” Just as the team has done all season, Kennedy has been dominant in the playoff s. Aft er 10-running Oakland – a team the Warriors split the season series with and scored two runs on all year – in the fi rst round, the Trojans rolled to a 13-1 quarterfi nal victory over Glide and a 7-1 semifi - nal win against Toledo. “Th ey’re a disciplined team. You can’t make a mistake against Kennedy. Th ey are always really polished when they show up to play. So you just have to make things hap- pen,” said Rice. Th e eighth ranked, but seventh seeded, Trojans are a perfect 22-0 against 1A/2A opponents this season. Th e team’s only losses came against 3A teams – Scio, Dayton and Clatskaine – that are all ranked in the top seven in the classifi cation. Clatskaine and Dayton are playing in the 3A state championship game on Friday in the game before the North Douglas-Kennedy matchup. “Th ey made us better. Very solid teams and that’s what I told [my team], we may not win this game but we’re going to get better from the experience,” Simmons said of playing the top teams. “Th at’s been something that I’ve harped on when we do the non-league games.” For the Warriors, a league playoff loss pushed the fi ft h- ranked team to the ninth seed which meant a pair of road games. Aft er a fi rst-round bye, North Douglas defeated Bonanza 12-7 on the road and followed up that perfor- mance with a 5-0 victory over top-ranked Grant Union in the quarterfi nals. On Tuesday against Lakeview, North Douglas punched its ticket to Eugene with a 2-0 win. Now the sides meet again in a game that is quite diff erent from last year’s contest. A season ago the Warriors were without junior pitcher Nicki Derrick who was out with an ACL injury. In her freshman state-winning season, Derrick helped push North Douglas past Kennedy with a 3-2 win. “She’s an outstanding athlete. Just looking at the few stats that I can see that are out there, I mean, she’s a solid pitcher, she obviously can hit the ball,” said Simmons. “We obvi- ously respect what she can do and hopefully we can come prepared and see if we can put the ball in play.” While the venue of this year’s fi nal may be new, both teams enter the game with state championship experience. Th e Warriors have six players that were on the team in 2017 while the Trojans, on their roster that features no se- niors, bring back eight players from last year’s side. Kenne- dy’s state-winning pitcher Tressa Riedman graduated from last year’s team. “We’ve matched up pitching wise, off ense, defense and so I guess I look at Friday as another opportunity for either team to show what they’ve got,” said Simmons.