South Medford's Kaycee Hudson connects for a double during the first inning against Westview in Medford Friday.

South Medford needed an early taste of success Tuesday to help get over a season opener that left the Panthers feeling as if they had missed an opportunity last week by not necessarily putting their best foot forward.

What transpired in the Southwest Conference softball opener in Grants Pass was even better than South Medford could have hoped for, however, as the Panthers scored early and often and dominated the host Cavers for a 19-0 victory in five innings.

South Medford (1-1, 1-0 SWC) belted out eight extra-base hits and 21 overall to leave no doubt after struggling to capitalize in a 4-2 loss to Westview last Friday.

“It was big for us,” said South Medford head coach Miranda Gillaspie. “That’s really what we worked on yesterday was just being aggressive swinging the bats. We have the ability to do it and I think we were just a little bit hesitant last week in our opener.”

“For us to come up confident and make adjustments was important,” she added. “We saw three of their pitchers and we were just patient and saw good pitches and bats were hot and it was just contagious. Kid after kid after kid just came up and produced top to bottom, and that was nice to see, especially coming off a little bit of a flat day offensively last Friday.”

It seems silly looking back on it when the final tally was so vast, but a key for the Panthers may have been their ability to strike right away and build a 2-0 lead in their first at-bat against Grants Pass (2-1, 0-1).

Maleyah Thoele drew a leadoff walk and was sacrificed to second base by Nicole Ledendecker to immediately get into scoring position. Kaycee Hudson followed with an RBI single, then moved into scoring position herself when Aubree Joe added her own single. Shelby Hillyer then brought Hudson home with an RBI single, and it was 2-0 with positive vibes throughout the dugout.

After Hudson sent the Cavers down in order, she tacked on a two-run home run in the second inning to double the lead at 4-0.

“We said going in that we have to get on board first,” said Gillaspie of Tuesday’s game plan. “At that point, you’re going up against Grants Pass in the league opener and you’re thinking two runs in the first inning, that could be the game. You hope that you chip away and get a couple more, and when Kaycee hit that home run in the second, we’re now 4-0 and then you’re really thinking, wow, maybe that could be game.”

Given how Hudson was pitching inside the circle, that was in fact the case as the senior right-hander combined with Ledendecker to toss a no-hitter in the mercy rule outing. Hudson struck out six and walked two in three innings, while Ledendecker posted three strikeouts in two innings.

“They have some kids that can swing the bat,” said Gillaspie of the Cavers, “but Kaycee hit her spots well and Nicole came in and hit her spots well. We had a couple good defensive plays that also got us out of a couple jams to keep them off the bases, too.”

South Medford wasn’t on the bases very long either, although that was because the Panthers kept churning out hits to keep ticking away at the scoreboard.

Hudson led a balanced lineup by going 4-for-5 with four runs and three RBIs, while Hillyer was 2-for-4 with one run and three RBIs and Sydney Butterfield went 2-for-4 with two runs and three RBIs.

Jayden Cote finished 3-for-5 with two runs and one RBI, while Thoele was 3-for-4 with two runs and one RBI, Joe went 2-for-3 with one run and two RBIs, Ledendecker was 2-for-3 with two runs and one RBI and Brianna Turrey finished 2-for-4 with one run.

“They were flat-out roping shots and we told them we’re not going to slow that down,” said Gillaspie. “I mean, 19-0 looks kind of ugly on the scoreboard but when your kids are coming up and taking good, quality at-bats and just bouncing them off the fence, we have to capitalize and use that energy, especially in a league opener.”

South Medford 224 (10)1 — 19 21 0

Grants Pass 000 00 — 0 0 2

Hudson, Ledendecker (4) and Hillyer; Gordon, Kuykendall (4), Montejano (5) and Vainuku-Johnson. W — Hudson (1-1). L — Gordon. 2B — SM: Hudson, Joe, Cote, Hillyer, Turpin, Butterfield. 3B — SM: Ledendecker. HR — SM: Hudson (1).

NORTH MEDFORD 3, CENTRAL CATHOLIC 2: At Portland, North Medford got back on the winning track with a hard-fought win at Delta Park over Central Catholic.

The Black Tornado, who were coming off a doubleheader sweep at Bend, improved to 2-2 while the host Rams dropped to 4-2-1.

EAGLE POINT 11, NORTH VALLEY 1: At Merlin, Eagle Point senior Baylee Mullen connected for a two-run home run in the seventh inning to complement RBI singles in the first and fifth innings in posting a 4-for-5 outing with two runs and four RBIs.

Jocelyn Hanan went 4-for-5 with four runs and two RBIs and Madisyn Dean was 3-for-5 with three runs for the Eagles (2-1), while Riley Jacoby went 3-for-5 with one RBI and Allison Martin drove in two runs.

Jersey Malcolm had two of the five hits by North Valley (1-3).

Eagle Point 202 220 3 — 11 17 2

North Valley 000 000 1 — 1 5 0

Dean, Leonardo (7) and Estes; Smithwick and Scharpen. W — Dean. L — Smithwick. 2B — EP: Hanan, Dean, Ledbetter. HR — EP: Mullen.

Baseball

GRANTS PASS 4, SOUTH MEDFORD 2: At Grants Pass, South Medford gambled after a one-out double by Evan Valenzuela in the bottom of the sixth by intentionally walking Grants Pass senior standouts Troy Osborne and Luke Morgan to load the bases but wound up seeing that not pay off in the Southwest Conference opener.

With the bases loaded, South Medford starter Tristan Mallari was able to induce a flyout to right field by cleanup hitter Bruxton Leair for a second out but was outside on a 3-2 pitch to Cole Carnes to walk in the go-ahead run.

After that, Nathan Bassett walked on four pitches to double the advantage for Grants Pass (1-1, 1-0 SWC) before Jake Lewis came on in relief to get an inning-ending groundout.

Luke Morgan then struck out the side in the top of the seventh to clinch the win over the Panthers (1-1, 0-1). The right-hander finished with 13 strikeouts and all five hits against him came in the first two innings.

Mallari allowed three hits with six walks overall in 5 ⅔ innings.

South Medford scored twice in the first inning after Mallari singled, moved to third on a double by Cooper Mitchell and then both runs were brought home on a two-out, two-run single over the shortstop by Evan Rhoden.

South Medford 200 000 0 — 2 5 2

Grants Pass 110 002 x — 4 3 0

Mallari, Lewis (6) and Long; Morgan and Osborne. W — Morgan. L — Mallari. 2B — SM: Mitchell; GP: Osborne, Morgan, Valenzuela.

ASHLAND 23, PHOENIX 3, 5 inn.: At Talent, Ashland junior Freeman Rountree struck out eight and allowed only one walk in four hitless innings on the mound and also went 4-for-4 with three runs and three RBIs at Hagler-James Field.

Freshman Cameron Oakley had a bases-clearing double and finished with five RBIs in his debut for Ashland (1-0).

Malakai Chandler went 3-for-5 with two runs and three RBIs, Keller Bloodworth was 3-for-5 with three runs and two RBIs and Jackson Rosenthal went 2-for-5 with two runs and two RBIs for the Grizzlies.

Kayden Sousa drove in a pair of runs with a double and scored in the fifth inning for Phoenix (2-3).

Ashland 138 74 — 23 22 1

Phoenix 000 03 — 3 1 5

Rountree, Chandler (5) and Albano; S. Shilts, Cunningham (4), Baynard (4) and J. Shilts. W — Rountree. L — S. Shilts. 2B — A: Chandler, Oakley 2, Bloodworth, Rountree 2; P: Sousa. 3B — A: Shrader, Rosenthal.

Track & Field

CRATER SWEEPS: At Eagle Point, Crater junior Ivar Hokanson turned in a personal record in the 800-meter race in 2 minutes, 2.23 seconds and was joined by four other individual winners for the Comets as the boys team topped Ashland and host Eagle Point in a Midwestern League tri-meet.

Crater’s girls team was also victorious after receiving winning efforts from Claire Davenport (200), Karlie Bettencourt (1,500), Abigail Nordahl (pole vault) and Raylee Heiken (long jump).

Nicholas Kube also placed first for Comets in the 200, while Hudson Barsalou won the 300 hurdles and Dakota Lynch won the triple jump.

Easton Raber posted a PR in the boys pole vault (13 feet, 1 inch) to help Eagle Point dominate the field events and take second place.

Ashland’s Wynn Pistole won the girls 400 and high jump.

BOYS

TEAM SCORES: Crater 72, Eagle Point 60, Ashland 28.

100 — 1, Caden Negra, Ash, 11.51; 200 — 1, Nicholas Kube, Cra, 23.13; 400 — 1, Giovonni Cavagnaro, EP, 58.19; 800 — 1, Ivar Hokanson, Cra, 2:02.23; 1,500 — 1, William Shore, Cra, 4:30.32; 110 HURDLES — 1, Julian Sather, EP, 19.09; 300 HURDLES — 1, Hudson Barsalou, Cra, 45.27; 4×100 RELAY — 1, Crater (Kyle Petty, Nicholas Kube, Gabriel Grant, Reese Tiffee), 44.06; 4×400 RELAY — 1, Eagle Point (Giovonni Cavagnaro, CJ Patro, Pryce Henry, Easton Raber), 3:48.16.

SHOT PUT — 1, Kadin Anthony, EP, 38-3.5; DISCUS — 1, Diego Salas, EP, 116-3; JAVELIN — 1, Alexander Krause, Ash, 116-4; HIGH JUMP — 1, Alejandro Villanueva, EP, 5-4; POLE VAULT — 1, Easton Raber, EP, 13-1; LONG JUMP — 1, Corbin Farquhar, EP, 18-7.5; TRIPLE JUMP — 1, Dakota Lynch, Cra, 40-1.

GIRLS

TEAM SCORES: Crater 55, Ashland 51, Eagle Point 38.

100 — 1, Karris Johnson, EP, 13.61; 200 — 1, Claire Davenport, Cra, 26.92; 400 — 1, Wynn Pistole, Ash, 1:05.86; 800 — 1, Claire Kiekhaefer, Ash, 2:37.45; 1,500 — 1, Karlie Bettencourt, Cra, 5:27.71; 100 HURDLES — 1, Kate Harnois, Cra, 18.93; 300 HURDLES — 1, Lila Higginson, Cra, 54.04; 4×100 RELAY — 1, Ashland (Naia Hagemman, Claire Kiekhaefer, Wynn Pistole, Flannery Lundgren), 54.17; 4×400 RELAY — 1, Crater (Kamdyn Johnson, Karli Bettencourt, Ella Heppner, Grace Havniear), 4:31.96.

SHOT PUT — 1, Thianna Deng-Gomez, EP, 32-6.25; DISCUS — 1, Alex Bakke, Ash, 89-6; JAVELIN — 1, Vivian Shawnego, EP, 112-3; HIGH JUMP — 1, Wynn Pistole, Ash, 4-6; POLE VAULT — 1, Abigail Nordahl, Cra, 6-3; LONG JUMP — 1, Raylee Heiken, Cra, 14-1.

Boys Tennis

ST. MARY’S 7, ASHLAND 1: St. Mary’s swept the singles matches with wins by Reid Ravassipour, Cyrus Oliva, Ben Smith and Sam Pham to earn the victory at Fichtner-Mainwaring Park.

SINGLES: Reid Ravassipour, SM, d. Gavin Connegy-Chang, 6-1, 6-0; Cyrus Oliva, SM, d. Adam Shelton, 6-0, 6-3; Ben Smith, SM, d. Wynter Marks-Ladd, 8-1; Sam Pham, SM, d. Quinn Chalmers, 8-1.

DOUBLES: Sriram Dinesh-Titus Stark-Seymour, SM, d. Mesa McKenzie-Charlie Rogers, 6-0, 6-0; Lucas Peterson-Landus Ho, SM, d. Oliver Anderson-Milo Leiserson, 8-1; Bao Pham-Case Johnston, SM, d. Max Hoerrmann-Elyn Barker, 8-2; Quinn Chalmers-Wynter Marks-Ladd, Ash, d. James Beers-Clark David, 8-6