Oak Ridge softball hangs on against Woodland

The Oak Ridge Blue Jays defeated the Woodland Cardinals 9-8 in their regular season finale on Wednesday at Oak Ridge High School. The game came down to the wire with the Cardinals scoring four runs in the top of the seventh inning to bring the game to within one, just shy of the comeback.

Blue Jays head coach Jim Simpson said he thought the team played fairly well but needs to clean up some things on defense.

“I believe we had eight errors in the game and we've got to work on that and fix those,” Simpson said. “We just to relax a bit. There were times when the game was tight, I felt we got a little tight and we made some miscues but overall, the girls ground it out and got us the win in the end.”

The offense of Woodland was led by sophomore Mallary Barks who went 4-4 with a walk and four RBIs. Junior Rhodie Long pitched a complete game for the Cardinals and finished with two strikeouts, four walks, and two earned runs.

Starting on the mound for Oak Ridge was freshman Kinsley Bogenpohl who went 3.1 innings with five strikeouts, one walk, and three earned runs. Senior Allison Seabaugh came in for the remainder of the game and finished with one strikeout, four walks, and five earned runs.

Junior Anna Davis led the offense of the Blue Jays with a 2-4 day and two RBIs.

Simpson said Davis has grown a lot this season and described her as a “slap hitter.”

“She a slapper so she laid down a great soft slap her the first time up and was able to get on and get some runners in,” Simpson said. “The second time up she power-slapped it and come up with a big hit for us. She's learning how to slap and doing a great job for us.”

Oak Ridge enters the Class 1 District 2 Tournament with a duel against Delta on Thursday at Advance High School. The Blue Jays are 1-1 this season against Delta with the most recent matchup ending in a 6-8 loss.

Simpson said they have used all week preparing for districts and are heading into it focusing on three things.

“We're going to focus on having fun, giving 100% effort, and concentration and we're going to let winning take care of itself,” Simpson said. “That's been our kind of our theme all year long. The girls adopted it and it's worked really well for us.”