Falcons Baseball Overcomes Sluggish Start and Spring Weather

As the early season was a frustrating mix of bus accidents, weather cancellations and struggling play, the Elmira baseball team spent Spring Break at the Madras baseball tournament.

Before that however, the Falcons face off with Creswell and reaped an 8-2 victory.  Ayden Wolgamott was the star of the day pitching 4 and a third innings and only surrendering 2 runs.  He also dominated at the plate getting 3 hits on the day.

Ayden Wolgamott slides into second on a steal attempt in a game vs Hidden Valley earlier this year.
 Photo by Michelle Ossowski

A final road trip before the break saw Elmira facing off against 2A Walport, where the Falcons became the power station, unleashing home runs in the game as Elmira crushed Walport 14-2.  Gavin Parker, Cobyn Herbert, and Blake Wigham all launched bombs, with Wigham collecting 5 RBIs on 3 hits.  All of the offense supported a workmanlike victory for Hunter Stockinger, who gave up only 2 runs. The victory raised the Falcons' record to  3-1 on the season.

Then, a strong dose of reality was doled out by tiny 3A Taft High school, leveling a humbling 15-0 beat down on Elmira, holding them to two hits.

"They were really good," Herbert commented in a conversation later.  Taft record is deceptive then because they are 3-5 at press time.  So dominate was their victory however,  that it was shortened after reaching the 5th inning with a 10 run or more lead.

With one of their games cancelled by weather yet again, the Falcons had only two more games to recover from the Taft blitzkrieg.  Playing host Madras, Elmira rallied for 3 runs in the bottom of the 7th for a scintillating 8-7 win.

The following game is somewhat inexplicable on multiple fronts.  McLoughlin stormed out to a commanding 11-6 lead after 4 and half innings.  Then the wheels came off for the 4A Pioneers as McLoughlin pitching was in a magnanimous mood, offering 13 walks, combined with 9 doubles by the Falcons.  The result was an electrifying 13 run bottom of the 7th and a ridiculous 24-11 rout of the Pioneers.  It is a game that the Falcons know they got away with one.

"We played pretty sloppy," Herbert lamented.

Elmira will host the Sutherlin Bulldogs from the 3A-5 Far West League on Wednesday April 3... weather permitting. 

Lady Falcons Roll to 3-0 Record, Seize #1 Ranking in 4A

Junior pitcher Maranda Hanson fired 8 strikeouts in a workmanlike, strong performance as the Elmira softball team cruised to a 6-1 non-league road victory over Creswell.  The victory after two previous in the week, propelled the Lady Falcons to the #1 ranking in 4A for softball.

Despite the fact that game was close through 5 innings, Elmira never seemed to be out of control in a a game they never trailed.  This was even during Creswell's only real threat mounted in the 4th inning.  After being staked to a 2-0 lead on three Lady Bulldog errors, Creswell rallied against Hanson, who had pitched three innings of no-hit ball.  A lead off double, an infield hit, and a hit batter loaded the bases with no outs.  Hanson settled down and struck out the next batter, surrendered a single run on a fielder's choice ground out, and then struck out the final batter of the inning to snuff out the rally and hold the lead.  Creswell would not threaten again.

The Lady Falcons' bats were slow to warm up, aided by some questionable umpiring that vexed both teams.  However, Elmira erupted in the sixth inning when they got a run on a lead off homer by Ashley Feltz who crushed a line drive deep over the left field fence.  After a walk and a hit batter, Carly Grossmiller cashed both runners in with a sharp 2-run single to make it 5-1.  Feltz played add on in the 7th, when she rapped an RBI single, scoring Cheyanne White who led off the last inning with a hard double.

The story of the game though wound up being Hanson's complete control of the game.  After putting down the Creswell rally, she gave up no hits, scattering two in the game.  Hanson was 17 of 25 on first pitch strikes and has 24 strike outs already this season. 

The Lady Falcons will participate in the Sandy Softball Tournament next week.  Any parents who are attending the tournament feel free to share photos for publication and photo credits.