West Linn softball uses 13-run fifth to beat Nelson 18-5

Published 11:54 pm Monday, May 26, 2025

By Miles Vance

The West Linn softball team was in trouble.

The sixth-ranked Lions – hosting No. 27 Nelson in the first round of the Class 6A state playoffs on Monday, May 26 – trailed by four runs in the fifth inning and looked very much like they were on their way to an early postseason exit.

As unfortunate as it was that West Linn got into trouble, however, the Lions showed their ability to get out of it, too.

Indeed, West Linn exploded for 13 runs in the bottom of the fifth, tacked on another four in the sixth and pulled away to beat the Hawks 18-5 at Rosemont Ridge Middle School.

“I feel amazing,” said West Linn senior second baseman Emery Curtis, who went 2 for 4 at the plate with a triple, two runs scored and two RBIs. “I’ll be honest, I was a little stressed, but I knew once we got our bats going that we would be just fine.”

“I knew we could trust our hitting,” said Lion junior shortstop Emily Sakys, who went 3 for 5 with three runs scored, six RBIs and a game-ending, walk-off grand slam home run. “Honestly, it is such a team sport that you have to trust your team to pick each other up.”

With the win, the Three Rivers League-champion Lions’ fifth straight, West Linn improved to 22-5 overall. Next up, the Lions will host No. 11 McNary in the second playoff round on Wednesday, May 28. The Celtics (20-7 overall after placing second in the Central Valley Conference) earned their berth in the second round by beating No. 22 Central Catholic 2-1 on Monday.

Nelson, meanwhile, saw its one-game winning streak snapped and ended its year at 14-13 overall after finishing fourth in the Mt. Hood Conference.

The two teams traded single runs in the first inning, but the Hawks broke through for four runs in the top of the second to push ahead 5-1, scoring twice on a bases-loaded Sakys error and twice more on a double to left by senior Abigail Huspeck.

And there, at 5-1, is where the score stayed for the next three innings – three tortuous innings for West Linn.

But when the Lions finally broke loose at the plate in the bottom of the fifth, they did so in unparalleled, stunning fashion. In their half of the fifth, the Lions sent 17 batters to the plate, banged out 11 hits – three for extra bases – poured across 13 runs to grab a 14-5 lead and essentially put the game on ice.

Highlights from the Lions’ marathon at-bat included Curtis’ two-run triple, sophomore Meadow Sanborn’s three-run homer to left and senior Meg Allen’s two-run double to center.

“I kind of knew we were going to be okay, because we’ve had a lot of comebacks this year,” said Sanborn, who picked up the win after pitching 4-1/3 innings and allowing no runs on no hits and no walks while striking out eight. She also went 2 for 4 at the plate with a three-run homer, two runs scored and three RBIs. “I was just really happy because I didn’t want this to be the last game.”

“That one inning when we batted through the whole lineup and more, we were just able to pass the bats,” Curtis said. “The other thing was the energy in the dugout and making sure that we were loud and cheering.”

There were more highlights in the bottom of the sixth, too, with the Lions loading the bases with two outs and Sakys ending the contest when she crushed a grand slam homer over the left field fence – her fourth home run of the season.

“We’ve just got to get back to work and … and trust the process,” Sakys said. “We’ve worked so hard, so we’ve got to trust everything from here on out.”

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