Say this at least for the West Linn softball team – the Lions have a flair for the dramatic.

Trailing significantly for the second playoff game in a row, West Linn also won its second playoff game in a row, this time rallying to beat McNary 7-6 in eight innings at Rosemont Ridge Middle School on Wednesday, May 28.

“Honestly, we just had to keep fighting and we knew we’ve been there before so we just put all our trust in our teammates and we just continued to do that,” said West Linn junior shortstop Emily Sakys, who went 2 for 4 at the plate with a triple, one run scored, two RBIs and the game-winning single in the bottom of the eighth.

“I feel like every inning that goes by, you have to keep having trust in your team,” said Lion junior third baseman McKayla Castro, who went 3 for 4 with a homer, one run scored and two RBIs. “I know that all these girls have my back and I have all their backs and that’s really an important part of this game – having each other’s back and trusting each other one pitch at a time.”

Trailing by five runs midway through 4-1/2 innings, the Lions – for the second playoff game in a row – caught fire late to win.

“There’s a statistic that if the first batter of the inning (on our team) gets on, there’s an 80% chance you’re going to score,” said West Linn junior left fielder Vivienne McGraw, who went 3 for 4 at the plate with a triple, one RBI and the game-winning run in the eighth. “So if you get on first, then good things happen.”

With the win, the Three Rivers League-champion Lions’ sixth straight, West Linn improved to 23-5 overall. Next up, the Lions will face No. 3 Sherwood in the 6A quarterfinals on Friday, May 30. The Lady Bowmen (26-3 overall after winning the Pacific Conference) earned their berth in the quarterfinals by beating No. 14 Tigard 1-0 in 10 innings on Wednesday.

McNary, meanwhile, saw its one-game winning streak snapped and ended its year at 20-8 overall after finishing second in the Central Valley Conference.
The Celtics came out hot at West Linn, banging out three hits in the top of the first inning and grabbing a 3-0 lead when senior Karah Miller blasted a three-run homer to center field.

The Lions edged back within 3-1 when sophomore Avery Wolf led off the second inning with a solo homer to center, but things got worse for West Linn after that.

McNary tacked on two runs in the fourth (on RBI singles by junior Violet Siegel and junior Ashlyn Wittnebel) and another in the fifth (on junior Olivia Montgomery’s RBI double) to push ahead 6-1 – but West Linn wasn’t done.

Indeed, the Lions pushed across five runs in the bottom of the fifth to tie the game at 6-6. They sent 10 batters to the plate in that at-bat and banged out five hits, a stretch highlighted by an RBI triple by Sakys, a two-run homer from Castro and an RBI single by McGraw.

Wolf, who picked up the win in relief, worked out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the seventh to preserve the 6-6 tie. And from there, the Lions – after getting shut down in the sixth and seventh innings – broke through to win in the eighth.

In their final at-bat, McGraw led off by crushing a triple to center, and after intentional walks to both junior Kendall Atwood and senior Emery Curtis, Sakys blooped a single over the drawn-in McNary infield to left field to plate McGraw and win the game.

“Honestly, sometimes little singles have to do,” Sakys said. “Base hits score runs and that’s part of the game. It worked.”

“I was just fouling pitches off until I got one I liked,” McGraw said of her triple. “I thought it was over (the McNary center fielder’s) head. She was playing me pretty shallow.”

For the game, Wolf went 2 for 3 with a homer, one run and one RBI, Curtis went 2 for 4 with one run, and senior Meg Allen went 1 for 4 with one run. Wolf picked up the “W” after pitching six innings and allowing three runs on seven hits and three walks while striking out four.

For McNary, Siegel, Wittnebel, Natalie Macik and Beth Tavares finished with two hits each.