Posted Monday April 12, 2010
Revised April 28, 2010

BOARDMAN - The 2009 OSAA 2A state champion Irrigon Knights defeated the 2009 3A quarterfinalist Riverside Pirates 7-5 on Friday, April 9, 2010. It was a spirited game as the teams alternated the lead throughout the game. Noelle Wright was the winning pitcher.

Irrigon took the early 1-0 lead in the top of the first. Riverside came right back scoring two runs in the bottom of the first. Riverside's first run came on a hit to center field by Shelby Drago drove in Lidia Velazquez. Then Drago of the Pirates scored on a hit by Cindy McLaughlin. Riverside led at the end of the first 2-1.

Irrigon came right back in the top of the second. Alicia Martin got on base with a hard hit to the shortstop. Next Leslie Coffman hit a shot to third base and Main was safe on an attempted throw to second. Ariel Schock then hit safely to left field loading the bases. Noelle Wright then crushed a shot to center field. That drove in Martin and Coffman. Unfortunately Martin missed tagging home so was called out so only Coffman's run counted. That tied the game up at 2-2.

Irrigon's next scoring opportunities came in the top of the third inning. Alisha Mego led off with a hit to get on base. Marissa Stanger then laid a sacrifice bunt moving Mego to second. Staci Stanger then had a ground out but it moved Mego to third. Cheyenne McKenney then hit to left field scoring Mego. Alicia Martin followed with a hit to left field scoring McKenney. That gave Irrigon the 4-2 midway through the third inning.

The Pirates came right back in the bottom of the third scoring two runs. Drago hit to center field. With two out Cindy McLaughlin hit to deep right field scoring Drago making the score 3-4. Tessa McLaughlin then hit safely on a grounder to second base scoring Cindy McLaughlin and tieing it up at 4-4.

The next scoring came in the top of the sixth. Ariel Schock led off for the Knights by beating out a grounder. Noelle Wright then hit to deep left field scoring Schock. Irrigon took the 5-4 lead. Jessica Henrichs then hit to cener field. A couple batters later Marissa Stanger hit a grounder to drive in Wright pushing the Irrigon lead to 6-4.

The Knights next scoring came in the top of the seventh. Leslie Coffman hit a line drive off the pitcher and made it safely to first. Ariel Schock then hit up the middle scoring Coffman and giving Irrigon the 7-4 lead half way through the seventh inning.

Riverside was fired up in the bottom of the seventh. They were withing striking distance and they have the fire power to take control. Lidia Velazquez led off with a base hit to left field. Two batters later Kayla Nelson hit into a potential double play. Irrigon was able to get Velazquez on the force at second. Cindy McLaughlin then hit to right field scoring Nelson and closing the Irrigon to 7-5. A strike out finished the game and Irrigon took the 7-5 win and 6-2 overall record.

Photos by Terry Aichele