Outlaws drop key Sky-Em League games

For 12 innings, the Sisters High School varsity softball team played sound softball. The other two innings, however, left the locals needing one more victory to extend their season into the 4A State Playoffs.

At Pleasant Hill on May 11, SHS watched the Billies score 10 times in the 5th inning enroute to a 12-7 defeat. And on May 12, the Lady Outlaws saw a 3-1 lead disappear when the hosting Falcons scored seven times in the fourth inning. Elmira went on to record an 11-4 victory.

"Other than those two innings, we played like a playoff team," said coach Tom Mauldin. "But a hit, a walk, a couple of errors and we lost our momentum and didn't recover."

The losses dropped the Outlaws to 7-5 in Sky-Em League play and 13-12 overall. By finishing the Sky-Em League play in third place, SHS will host a playoff game between Pleasant Hill and Junction City (the league's No. 5 and No. 4 teams) on May 18, then will play the winner.

The winner gets the league's No. 3 seed into the State Playoffs, opening on the road May 22 against Capital Conference runner-up Cascade.

With the win over the Outlaws, Elmira captured the league's No. 2 4A Playoff seed. Unbeaten Marist earned the Sky-Em's No. 1 seed.

"We didn't get a chance to close things out against our opponents last week, but still have a chance for state," said Mauldin. "We just need to keep our focus on defense and play consistent and we'll be okay. For some teams the season is over ... we're still playing."

Against Pleasant Hill, the Outlaws were up 2-1 before the forgettable inning and trailed 12-3 going into the seventh inning, when they scored five times.

"We didn't quit hitting, and that's a sign of a good team," said Mauldin. "We just need to get defense and offense on the same day."

Top hitters for Sisters in the loss were senior Jenny Kaiser with a four-hit effort and sophomore McKenzie Cooper, who singled twice and drove in a pair of runs. Run-scoring base hits also were delivered by Hillary Renz, Paige Bruguire and M.J. Schulte.

Kaiser and Cooper also led Outlaw hitting in the loss to Elmira. Cooper again singled twice and Kaiser tripled and singled to drive in two runs.

May 8 was Senior Day at SHS for Kaiser, Cammie Patterson, Renz and Jenna Sneva and the Outlaws responded with a 14-1 win over Cottage Grove.

"It certainly makes a nice punctuation for their day," Mauldin said about the four who played their final game on the SHS field.

Kaiser, Renz and Sneva have been fixtures in the Outlaws' lineup since their sophomore seasons. Kaiser had a double and a single, Sneva had three singles and Renz singled in a run and pitched two scoreless innings in relief of Cooper. Cooper had a pair singles and drove in four runs. Bruguire also had a pair of base hits and, like Kaiser and Calavan, scored three runs. Cooper finished the Sky-Em League season with a team-high .500 batting average (21-42) and a team-high 13 runs batted in. Kaiser finished at .485 (19-39) with a team-high 19 runs scored.