Huskies lose three-run lead, fall to Molalla in league opener

MOLALLA, Ore. - The Huskies opening innings looked very strong both defensively and offensively, as evidenced by an early 3-0 lead. However, Molalla took advantage of some North Marion errors as the game reached its final statges, and the Indians scored five unanswered runs to knock off the Huskies 5-3 in the rainy league opener from Al Geddes Field in Molalla.

The Huskies opened up the 2012 league season with a solid first inning offensively, where they picked up a run off of two hits. Zach Williamson hit a ball hard to the pitchers' mound, too hard for Molalla Pitcher Ryan Potter to handle, giving Zach the base hit. Zach stole second and advanced to third on a productive groundout by Brandan Hopper. Tristan Wampole - by far the team's leading RBI-producer - tallied another as his base hit up the middle scored Zach, giving the Huskies the 1-0 lead.

The next three half innings flew by in a whirl. In the bottom of the first, Molalla advanced their leadoff hitter, Potter, all the way to third, but two consecutive outs were recorded to end the inning. The Huskies were sat down in order in their half of the second inning. Molalla followed in the second inning with a hit, but the party to credit for the hit was picked off and caught stealing on the throw from Pitcher Wyatt Moore to Wampole at first to Kyle Williamson at shortstop to tag out the stealer.

In the top of the third, the Huskies put forth an even better offensive effort, and took advantage of some Molalla errors to further that effort. Brock Breshears reached base on a wild throw, and was eventually advanced to third after another single by Zach Williamson. Hopper belted a ball to first base, and the first baseman elected to throw home, attempting to get Breshears streaking from third. The throw was there in plenty of time, but the Indians catcher could not successfully reel in the throw and Brock was safe. Tristan Wampole singled to load up the bases. Wyatt Moore followed up with a single on a hard hit ball to first, Molalla not able to complete the challenging play, scoring Zach Williamson.

Into the bottom of the same inning, Molalla offered its rebuttal, recording two runs off of two hits of their own. The leadoff batter of the inning reached base, but was promptly sat down when Nat Barrell caught him stealing second. Back-to-back singles with runners on base allowed the two runs to score.

The Huskies were clinging to a 3-2 advantage, but Molalla tied the game in the fifth, when a balk was committed while a runner occupied third, bringing him home. Another critical mistake came in the bottom of the sixth inning. With the bases loaded, a ball was hit at third baseman Danny Robles, who could not cleanly field the ball, allowing two Molalla runs to score. The two sixth-inning runs granted Molalla the 5-3 lead, a lead that would stick through the finish.

In the top of the seventh, Brock Breshears gave the Huskies hope with a leadoff base hit. However, the next three North Marion batsmen were retired in order, ending the ball game with the score in Molalla's favor.

The Huskies outhit Molalla 8-5 in the contest and each team committed four errors, however the Indians had things happen at the right times to pick up five runs to the Huskies' three. Individually, Zach Williamson, Tristan Wampole, and Brock Breshears led the Huskies with two hits apiece. Other hits came courtesy of Moore and Robles.

On the mound for the Huskies, Wyatt Moore continued his solid pitching this season. Coming off of an amazing complete game performance against Dayton, Wyatt allowed just one earned run in the contest while giving up five hits. However, he did walk five and the Huskies defense struggled to back him up at times, evidenced by the four unearned runs. Ryan Potter was Wyatt's counterpart, and he allowed eight hits and three earned runs. However, Potter did not walk a single Husky in the game.

Overall, on the stat sheet the Huskies looked much better as they had more hits and allowed less earned runs. But as mentioned before, things fell into place and events occured at the right times for Molalla to come away with the 5-3 advantage.

The game was a makeup from Tuesday's scheduled opener. Although it was raining almost all day at North Marion, Molalla's weather was substantially better allowing the game to be played. Rain was present at times during warmups and in the early innings, but as the game moved on, the clouds moved on also, allowing a pretty clean game to be played. Next up, the Huskies are scheduled to host these same Indians on Thursday. If the field is not playable at North Marion, the game may be moved to Molalla, taking place of a later game scheduled at Molalla. Check back on the team's website for the latest news. After all was said and done, the Huskies fell to 3-5 and 0-1 in league, having lost four of their last five games. Molalla continued their surprising record, improving to 5-1 and 1-0 in league thus far.

#2012 #gamerecap #regularseason