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Renegades U12 team wins tourney

by: submitted photo, Members of the Renegades U12 softball team pose for a photo after the team won the silver division of the Youthfastpitch.com Northwest tournament two weeks ago. In the championship game against Prinveville, the lead changed hands multiple times before the Renegades prevailed for a 13-12 victory.

The LO Softball Renegades 12U 'B' softball team recently competed in the Youthfastpitch.com 12U B Northwest tournament that was held in McMinnville.

The Renegades played competitive teams from Hillsboro, Sandy and Siuslaw prior to advancing to the silver bracket championship game against the Prineville Sidewinders. The championship game was a thriller.

In the first inning, the Renegades gave up three unearned runs, but scored five runs in the bottom of the inning due to key hits by Ruby Taylor, Ali Binns, Abby Gray, Carly Seidel and Juliana Pyle to take a 5-3 lead.

In the second inning, the Sidewinders went three-up and three-down due to Cozette Palmer striking out a batter and key defensive plays by Patricia Brashear and Paige Quesenberry.

Later in that inning, the Renegades' Zhanna Drum led off with a single, Ruby Taylor drove her in with a double and the Renegades led 6-3. In the third inning, the Sidewinders scored three runs. Then the Renegades had the bases loaded with one out but could not score any runs, leaving the game tied 6-6.

In the fourth inning, the Sidewinders scored five runs on five hits and the Renegades responded with a run in the bottom of that frame to cut the Sidewinders' lead to 11-7.

In the fifth inning, the Renegades' defense was tough as Palmer struck out two batters and Gray threw down to Brashear to tag out the runner attempting to steal second. Offensively, Mary Ferguson led off with a single and scored on Paige Quesenberry's hit to make it 11-8.

In the sixth inning, Palmer gave up one hit and struck out three Sidewinder batters. Then, with time running out, Drum, Palmer, Ferguson, Gray, and Seidel had hits to score four runs and the Renegades took a 12-11 lead. In the seventh inning, the Sidewinders popped up to second and ground out to shortstop for two outs; then three consecutive singles scored one run to tie the game at 12.

In the bottom of the seventh, the Renegades had two outs when Alexa Stirek ripped a single to left. She advanced to third on Drum's single to center. Then on the next pitch, Palmer hit a shot to right field, scoring Stirek for the 13-12 win and the first-place trophy.

'These kids believed they could win, they never gave up and they won a great softball game,' head coach Ken McKinney said.

Also helping coach the team were Mike Taylor, Joe Ferguson, John Gray, Ed Quesenberry and Jeff Scott.