Raleigh Hills/Sunset Park battles at district

The local all-stars fall just short in their final game vs. Forest Grove

By Tyler Richardson

The Beaverton Valley Times, Jul 29, 2010

Miles Vance / Beaverton Valley Times

EYES ON THE BALL — Raleigh Hills/Sunset Park center fielder Riley Pendergast gets ready to make a play against Forest Grove at Alpenrose Dairy on Friday night in the District 4 tournament.

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The weather was hot Saturday at Alpenrose Dairy, but the bats of both Raleigh Hills-Sunset and Forest Grove were hotter. Both teams combined to score 12 runs in the first three innings.

The scoring ceased after the early runs and Forest Grove came away with the victory 7-5. With the win Forest Grove earned third place in the District 4 Majors softball tournament.

Forest grove scored four runs in the first inning off Raleigh Hills-Sunset pitcher Julia Harbolt. The first three batters for Forest Grove all reached to load the bases. Leena Silvis hit a two-run single for the first runs of the game. Kindel then earned an RBI on a fielder’s choice, and Silvis later scored on an error to give Forest Grove a 4-0 lead.

“I thought we did great,” Harbolt said of her early innings. “ I just wanted to throw strikes and I knew if they put they ball in play we could get some outs.”

Raleigh Hills-Sunset battled back to score two runs in the second inning. Kaci Krech led off with a walk and stole second. Riley Pendergast followed with a single, moving Krech to third. Krech later scored when Harbolt dropped and RBI bunt, which also moved Pendergast to third. Pendergast then scored on an infield single by Payge Brown.

Forest Grove was determined to stay ahead, and tacked on three more runs in the second. With two outs Sarah Hess drew a walk and JJ Leuthold followed with a single. Silvis then hit another two-run single and scored on a Bailey single to put Forest Grove up 7-2.

Raleigh Hills-Sunset tried to keep in interesting in the third by scoring three runs. Annie Wissmiller led off with a double. Cory Meyer drew a walk and both Wissmiller and her scored on a Forest Grove throwing error, which also put Krech on second. Krech later scored on another Forest Grove error to reach the final score of 7-5.

“I think last night was their big night. They didn’t have the energy tonight and we gave up seven runs early,” Raleigh Hills-Sunset coach Paul Stemberg said.

Although Raleigh Hills-Sunset did not place in the District tournament, they did come away with an experience that will last a lifetime.

“It’s a little disappointing but I am proud of us and I think we did good,” Harbolt said. “All of us girls get along. It was awesome and a great experience.”

“We have been at it for five weeks now and we’ve become one big family. It was a great experience,” Stemberg said.