Wilsonville’s home opener against West Albany came and went. Now it’s time to talk about it. On Wednesday, March 18, the West Albany Bulldogs traveled north for their first game of the season — and Wilsonville’s second game.
The evening before, the Wildcats played their opening day game at Willamette High School, and, in a seven-inning bout, lost 9-3. In that game, it was Grady Weise who took the loss on the mound, throwing through three innings, with three strikeouts and three earned runs. A rough start to what was the best season in program history, but nonetheless, they got right back on track the next night.
Now on their home turf and against a familiar team, things started to lean their way. Lewis and Clark College commit Colby Kosderka got the start for the Wildcats, and although he struggled with five walks, he allowed only two hits, which, by the touch of God, turned into three runs.
“Still building to peak form, but I definitely feel like I’m on the way there,” said Kosderka. “The walks are obviously frustrating — definitely need to work towards minimizing them to help with my pitch count and overall success.”
Going into the bottom of the second inning down three, it was Grady Weise on the basepath and Jack Case at the plate, getting things done to set up a big inning for Wilsonville. Case hit a single, scoring Weise, followed by another single to center from Cole Weber. With Case now on third, Milo Nichols poked one to right field, scoring Case and advancing Weber to third on the sacrifice fly.
A few more hits were strung together, ending with a double from Evan Eagle to score Beau Johnson for the fourth and final run of the inning.
Still leading 4-3 heading into the fourth inning, Rasco brought out senior Jack Rader, a reliable starter on junior varsity last year, making his varsity debut late in a close game. He did not disappoint. Through four innings, Rader closed out the game with three strikeouts, one walk and no runs allowed.
As for other hitting performances, Beau Johnson, the leadoff hitter, went 2 for 4 with a double and an RBI. Four spots down in the order, the starting catcher, Kellan Rasco, went 2 for 3 before being replaced by Brayson Roethler at the top of the seventh inning.
“We are just trying to be better than we were in weeks prior, and you know, hoping to be playing baseball in June,” said Brayson Roethler.
The Wildcats now sit at 1-1 on the season, and get a spring break vacation down to Southern California to play in the Anaheim Lions Baseball Tournament. On March 24, they will play California High School, and to round out the tournament, they have a doubleheader the next day on the 25th, and a single game on the 27th.
Until then, go Cats.