There are hot-hitting offenses, and then there's what Cascade's softball team is doing this season.
The unbeaten Cougars (18-0, 8-0 4A Oregon West Conference), No. 3 in the OSAAtoday 4A coaches poll, have been crushing opposing pitchers for a solid month.
Heading into Thursday's game at rival Stayton (10-6, 6-2), Cascade has scored in double figures in 15 consecutive games. The Cougars are batting .461 as a team and averaging 13.3 runs per game.
In a 15-0 home win over Estacada on April 19, Cascade scored 14 runs on 15 hits in the third inning. The Cougars rapped 10 consecutive hits before recording the first out the Rangers, who were ranked No. 8 at the time.
“They were all legit base hits. There was nothing given to them,” coach Marty Jeppsen said. “I told the girls, 'I've never seen anything like that before.' One through 12, they hit the ball really, really well. The bats have been on fire.”
Jeppsen had a hunch that something special was in the works in 2022, when he graduated nine seniors from the 4A championship team. He liked what he saw from the players coming up in the system.
“I took a lot of heat because when these girls came in as freshmen, I said they were more talented than the group that just graduated when they were freshmen,” Jeppsen said. “They took it all out of context.”
The Cougars went 16-7 in 2023 and 21-6 in 2024, losing in the first round of the playoffs both years. They brought back all but two starters from last season, when they shared the Oregon West title with Stayton.
Senior third baseman Malia Scanlan, the only starter left from that 2022, is part of a dynamic power-hitting duo with junior second baseman Amyah Miranda. Scanlan is batting .533 with 11 doubles, two triples, six home runs and 39 RBIs. Miranda is hitting .550 with seven doubles, two triples, eight home runs and 37 RBIs.
Scanlan and Miranda bat third and fourth, respectively, in the order.
“Pick your poison,” Jeppsen said. “You can walk them if you want to, but the person behind them is going to make you pay for it. They're both hitting the ball so well this year, line drive after line drive.”
Scanlan, who set the school's single-season home run record (12) in 2023, is punishing the ball.
“The amount of times the ball just flies off the bat on line drives is just incredible,” Jeppsen said.
Junior shortstop Cassidy Crabtree, back on the team after missing last season with a torn ACL, sets the table in the leadoff spot. She is batting .532 with 16 RBIs and has scored 35 runs. She has stolen 21 bases, within five of breaking the school's single-season record.
Senior center fielder Lexie Gidcumb (.440, two home runs, 22 RBIs), sophomore left fielder Pearl Pruett (.459, nine doubles, 20 RBIs) and sophomore right fielder Kaitlyn Webb (.490, 17 RBIs) also are consistently producing. Eight players have combined for 21 home runs.
Cascade was dealt a blow when its ace pitcher from last year, Jari Stegman, decided not to play her junior season. The Cougars have relied on freshman Taylor Bays and sophomore Jaelyn Lowry in her place.
Bays (36 2/3 innings, 25 hits, 43 strikeouts, 11 walks, 2.29 ERA) and Lowry (48 2/3 innings, 38 hits, 57 strikeouts, 46 walks, 3.74 ERA) share time in the circle each game. Both have made 15 appearances and neither has recorded a complete game.
Cascade's pitchers aren't blowing away hitters, but they have yielded only one home run all season.
“We know we don't have strikeout pitchers,” Jeppsen said. “I've told them, 'You have a great defense behind you.' Teams putting the ball in play against us is not a bad thing. What kills us is if we start walking people.”
Cascade's closest game is a 4-3, eight-inning win over 5A No. 8 Canby in the North Medford Spring Break Tournament on March 25. Scanlan's two-run double in the top of the eighth proved to be the difference.
Canby (12-6) and 4A No. 9 Sweet Home (12-6) are the only teams the Cougars have played that are currently ranked in the coaches' polls. The Cougars defeated Sweet Home 12-6 and 11-4 in Oregon West games.
Cascade scheduled a nonleague game against 4A No. 2 Scappoose (15-1), but it was rained out twice.
“We haven't really had that litmus-test game yet that we've been wanting,” Jeppsen said.
jerryu@osaa.org
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