Mac upends Lady Vikings

SOFTBALL: Forest Grove sinks to third place in the Pacific Conference with another extra-inning loss to McMinnville

By Zack Palmer

The Forest Grove News-Times, May 2, 2007, Updated Oct 30, 2009

Tommy Whitcomb / News-Times

Forest Grove pinch runner Brenda Betancourt slides safely into third base during the sixth inning of Friday’s softball game against McMinnville.

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For the second time this season, Forest Grove took Pacific Conference-leading McMinnville to extra innings only to lose by a run.

The Lady Vikings (10-8, 5-4) picked up wins over Tigard and Newberg early last week, setting the stage for a rematch against No. 3 McMinnville (18-2, 9-0) on Friday. The Grizzlies won the teams’ first meeting 2-1 in 12 innings on April 16.

On Friday, both teams sent their sophomore aces to the mound – Emma Gronseth for Forest Grove and Anna Bertrand for McMinnville. The result was a quick, well-played game that went into extra innings when neither team could muster a run through the first seven. McMinnville scored the game’s first and only run in the top of the eighth on a swinging bunt by Bailey Neihus. Bertrand, who was on second base after smashing a one-out double, scored when the throw was mishandled at first.

“We would have liked to have won, obviously,” said Forest Grove head coach Ole Evenson. “Still, that’s the second-ranked team in the state, and we’ve taken them to extra innings both times we’ve played them.”

Forest Grove had several scoring opportunities in the game. The Lady Vikings twice put runners on third base with one out – once in the first inning and again in the sixth – but could not get a run in against Bertrand. The league’s reigning Co-Pitcher of the Year worked her way out of trouble in the first with a groundout and a strike out, then whiffed the final two batters she faced in the sixth.

Sophomore Krystal Huffman came off the bench to pinch hit for Forest Grove in the eighth and hit a long drive to left-center field off Bertrand, but it was caught and the Lady Viks’ comeback hopes ended there.

Gronseth, the league’s other reigning Co-Pitcher of the Year, threw eight strong innings in the loss. Still suffering from a back injury sustained on April 20 against Tualatin, the sophomore gave up six hits and struck out seven. Bertrand, meanwhile, allowed five hits and had 14 strikeouts over eight innings.

“Emma threw well. She didn’t miss a spot all game,” Evenson said. “She didn’t show any ill effects from the back injury, but she’s still not 100 percent.”

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