The losing streak has ended.
Philomath High School’s softball team could finally breathe a sigh of relief and celebrate a little Thursday afternoon by closing out a 7-6 victory over North Marion. Improved fielding, clutch hits and effective pitching all came together and the team escaped a late threat to post the win.
Gallery: PHS softball vs. North Marion (April 18, 2024)
A collection of photos from Philomath High’s 7-6 softball victory over North Marion on Thursday.
“It feels great, even though we cut it close at the end.”
Those were the words of junior Laighla Hockema, who threw her best game of the season. Hockema faced 32 batters and allowed nine hits and one walk with two strikeouts. She also had three assists and two putouts — including a diving catch in the sixth inning with a North Marion runner in scoring position.
“I definitely did better at fielding my position as a pitcher and with pitching, I felt like I did a lot better and was consistent,” Hockema said.
Coach Travis King noticed the pitchers during pregame and had a feeling that a good outing could be forthcoming.
“We warmed up all three pitchers and all three were pitching great,” King said. “Usually we see our catchers chasing balls during warmups and they didn’t chase balls today. Our pitchers were throwing darts and they were pretty much putting them in where they needed to be. They looked focused.”
Hockema maintained her focus in the circle throughout the afternoon. The team’s veteran catcher, junior Janae Traglia, could see it.
“Laighla did super good today … I felt like she put in 110%,” Traglia said.
The team’s error count dropped significantly and also factored into the outcome.
“I feel like we’ve just really cleaned up a lot of our errors that we’ve been making,” Traglia said. “I think we finally cleaned up our attitudes really well to stay positive … that helps with momentum and getting balls in play.”
King liked what he saw in the field and at the plate.
“For the most part, we played clean defensively and we hit the ball when we needed to,” King said. “We had some clutch hits by some players that haven’t been hitting and that made a difference.”
Philomath (1-14 overall, 1-5 Oregon West) had a dozen hits with Traglia (2 for 4), Hockema (2 for 4), junior Hannah Bennett (2 for 4), junior Lilia Leman (2 for 4) and junior Kaylie Kohler (2 for 4) all putting in multiple-hit performances.
“We’ve all been hitting recently,” Traglia said. “It’s just a matter of putting the ball where it needs to be, not popping up, adjusting at the plate — and that’s all just mentality and that’s what we’re working on right now in practice.”
Unlike the first meeting between these two schools — North Marion took a 21-20 win — the game was relatively low scoring. Philomath took a 1-0 lead in the third inning. Traglia hit a double to center field and two batters later, Bennett connected on a line drive double that North Marion’s center fielder was unable to catch on a diving attempt.
North Marion (2-12, 1-5) put together a three-run inning in the fourth to take the lead. Freshman Xenia King hit a two-run single and senior Emersyn Alvord followed with a double to drive in a third run. The inning ended, however, with Alvord thinking about taking third base on a Philomath throw to the plate and she was tagged out trying to retreat back to second.
The Warriors tied the score in the fifth. Kohler opened the inning with a single up the middle and two batters later, Hockema hit a bloop single to give PHS two base runners. Kohler and Hockema both moved up with a double steal and then Bennett got a run home on a ground-ball out. Freshman Riley Mason followed with a soft single over the shortstop to make it 3-3.
Philomath then broke out for four runs in the sixth — all with two outs. Freshman Haley King singled to left and three batters later, Kohler connected on a single that got King home. Kohler advanced to second on the throw home and then ended up at third on a North Marion error.
Traglia got Kohler home with a single, Hockema followed with a single of her own and then Bennett reached on an infield single to load the bases. On the Bennett hit, North Marion’s third baseman made a stop and unsuccessfully tried to touch the bag for a force out. Traglia and Hockema ended up scoring later for a 7-3 lead.
In the bottom half, sophomore Kendra Baylie reached on an error and freshman Lila Shaffer worked a walk. That set up senior Ava Shaffer, who connected with a one-run double. On the next play, North Marion hit a ball back to the Hockema at pitcher, who got the out with a throw to first baseman Zoee Howard.
Howard dropped the ball on the exchange — the out counted — but in what seemed like a moment of confusion, North Marion scored a pair of runs to cut the Warriors’ lead to 7-6. The game ended with the next batter, however, on another grounder back to the pitcher.
Traglia has been in the varsity lineup since her freshman season and has been through highs and lows with the program.
“I would say by far this year we’ve definitely had the best team bonding,” she said when asked to assess where the team’s at. “It’s just a matter of putting that all together. A lot of us are playing positions that we haven’t played or are being moved around and then we have new girls that haven’t been on varsity. So, seeing the new girls come in and adjusting, I think we’re finally getting in the flow.”
Hockema feels like the victory can ultimately represent a point in the season when the girls turned a corner and started winning more games.
“If we can keep up the good energy, I definitely think that we can get more wins,” she said.
The coach has certainly noticed a change in the field.
“They’re starting to hold each other accountable a little bit for what’s going on,” King said after the win. “I think some of them are starting to generate better bonds and really taking that on.”
If a player messes up, the coach says they are learning to regroup and move on.
“That’s been one of the biggest things — getting them to flush whatever happens,” King said. “If they make a mistake, it’s like ‘let’s go on to the next play’ and the clothes are starting to really mesh into that.”
Philomath is scheduled to play Monday at home against Cascade.
