Wilsonville softball historically has always challenged itself with a tough preseason schedule. Losing three influential seniors in the class of 2023, Wilsonville had some work to do to prepare themselves for this season.
Wilsonville’s preseason schedule was filled top to bottom with tough 5A and 6A squads. Wilsonville started their season off hot beating Newberg 9-3. The Wildcats then fell into a rut losing to three tough 6A teams (Lakeridge 1-6, Sunset 0-2, and Sherwood 0-4). Wilsonville needed a serious shift in momentum to find success.
The Wildcats then traveled to Thurston where they won 12-1. Shortly after, Wilsonville went to the Sunshine State for spring break where they went .500 on the week, beating a team from Illinois and New York and losing to two teams from Wisconsin. The Wildcats then lost to a tough squad from McNary for their last preseason game.
“The preseason was a little rocky but we had some good games that gave us the confidence that we were going to do good in the league,” said senior Talia Valdez. “It was a little bit rough but it was a good time for us to work the little things out as a team. It wasn’t horrible but it definitely could have gone better,” added senior Grace Wilson.
Going into league play, Wilsonville was sitting on a 5-6 record. This was not the performance that Wilsonville wanted and needed to make a serious change for league play.
During practices, the five seniors on this team vocalized the importance of league play and how the team needed to make a change as they were shooting for their 4th straight league championship. Every team in NWOC was gunning for the Wilsonville Wildcats.
Wilsonville began their league season by beating Centennial 9-0. The Wildcats were firing on all cylinders. They were stringing hits together to score runs every inning. Freshman Mia Rucker had a stellar pitching performance striking out 12 and only allowing one hit. This team effort allowed Wilsonville to jump to 1-0 in the league.
“We improved in our hitting a lot against Centennial, we came into the game with a mindset of get it done and we did,” said Wilson. “It was a good start to the season and a good game after spring break. We got our bats going and played good defense and we want to carry that with us as we play more league teams,” added Valdez
Wilsonville’s toughest competition will be Canby and La Salle next week. The Wildcats are currently ranked #6 in 5A via OSAA and look to improve this standing as they make their way through playoffs.