North Medford turns it on late to take down Crater in 9th inning
Published 12:32 pm Wednesday, March 19, 2025
North Medford senior right fielder Maleyah Thoele runs to teammates celebrating her game-winning hit in extra innings against Crater Tuesday in Medford. (Andy Atkinson / for the Rogue Valley Times)
North Medford senior catcher Sadie Hall, left, tags out Crater junior Amanda Hammer at home plate in the first inning Tuesday in Medford. (Andy Atkinson / for the Rogue Valley Times)
North Medford courtesy runner Riley Smalley steals second base as Crater shortstop Danika Brackett stretches for a throw Tuesday in Medford. (Andy Atkinson / for the Rogue Valley Times)
Crater sophomore pitcher Allyson Nottingham delivers a strike against North Medford Tuesday at Lithia & Driveway Fields. (Andy Atkinson / for the Rogue Valley Times)
North Medford sophomore pitcher Julia Edwards delivers a strike against Crater at Lithia & Driveway Fields in Medford Tuesday. (Andy Atkinson / for the Rogue Valley Times)
North Medford's Natalie Tlascala, top, collides with Crater's Allyson Nottingham at second base Tuesday at Lithia & Driveway Fields in Medford. (Andy Atkinson / for the Rogue Valley Times)
Crater sophomore Allyson Nottingham, right, slides safe for a score in front of North Medford senior catcher Sadie Hall Tuesday at Lithia & Driveway Fields. (Andy Atkinson / for the Rogue Valley Times)
Elite 6A and 5A softball programs wage back-and-forth battle to kick off an optimistic spring season for both
If an early test is what they wanted, that’s exactly what North Medford and Crater’s softball programs got Tuesday night at Lithia & Driveway Fields.
A season-opening battle between programs who have been extremely successful at the Class 6A and 5A levels, respectively, went beyond sundown as the outcome teetered between them before the Black Tornado were able to get a walk-off single to the fence in left-center by Maleyah Thoele in the bottom of the ninth inning for an 8-7 win.
The lead found itself swinging back-and-forth between North Medford, ranked No. 8 in the Class 6A preseason coaches poll, and Crater, No. 7 in the 5A preseason coaches poll, from the first inning to the last — with no more than two runs separating either team throughout.
Crater rallied for four straight runs to carry a 7-5 lead into the bottom of the seventh inning, but North Medford would not go away quietly with a pair of tying runs that set extra innings into play.
North Medford courtesy runner Riley Smalley steals second base as Crater shortstop Danika Brackett stretches for a throw Tuesday in Medford. (Andy Atkinson / for the Rogue Valley Times)
“We love it,” Crater coach Chris Arnold said of routinely facing North Medford whenever possible in the first few weeks of a season. “These early season games are about learning, and we learn a lot off of that. We both left a lot on the table tonight, and those are to be expected.”
“We made mistakes as a team — we have only worked together with this group for three weeks — so we’re learning ourselves,” added Arnold, whose Comets won three straight 5A titles from 2007-09. “There definitely always is going to be something that we’re working on, but I don’t like to just be chasing my tail and working on something from a game that we didn’t do well. We’re going to continue to grow as a team.”
North Medford interim head coach Daniel Smalley felt the same, and had the win to show for it with an 8-7 comeback secured in the ninth inning when Sadie Hall slid a leadoff single through the right side and courtesy runner Naimah Muhammad was sacrificed to second base by Maili Hamlin.
On the next pitch, Thoele — a South Medford transfer — ripped the game-winner deep into the outfield as Muhammad raced home without a throw for an 8-7 triumph.
“It was a very, very good learning experience by both teams,” said Smalley, who is filling in for head coach Chris Campbell until he is capable of making a return hopefully in the coming weeks. “Coach Arnold has a phenomenal team over there, and we spoke after the game and talked about how both of our teams needed this kind of game. Whether you won or lost this game, you were going to find something about your identity of who you are as a softball team, and you’re only going to grow from it.”
Defense and baserunning likely sit atop the to-do list of things to shore up on for each squad, with North Medford committing four errors to one by Crater, while the Comets left eight runners on base compared to five by the Black Tornado and each team got doubled off the base on fly-ball outs.
North Medford senior catcher Sadie Hall, left, tags out Crater junior Amanda Hammer at home plate in the first inning Tuesday in Medford. (Andy Atkinson / for the Rogue Valley Times)
“It’s a tough loss — it’s always tough to be on the other end of it — but there’s some good learning that we can do from this,” said Arnold.
“What we were missing tonight is that killer instinct, and it’s tough to get that early on,” he added. “To North’s credit, they put together a nice run at the end, and Julia (Edwards) had some gutty at-bats there in the eighth inning.”
Edwards was able to strikeout the side in the top of the eighth inning, finishing with seven strikeouts overall against three walks and 10 hits allowed by the sophomore right-hander.
Crater counterpart Allyson Nottingham got out of a small jam with one out and a runner on second base in the bottom of the eighth inning with a strikeout and a groundout from an interior defense that had one early error but otherwise rose to the challenge against North Medford’s pressure.
“Julia coming in as a sophomore and really getting her first big-time start for us, she did a phenomenal job,” said Smalley. “And so did Ally over there for Crater. Ally was absolutely fantastic today. It’s good to see that quality of a pitcher with both squads going into the regular season — especially going in over the next couple weeks — just knowing that you’ve faced a good pitcher.”
Nottingham went the distance with Edwards, allowing 11 hits with only one walk against three strikeouts. Six of those hits allowed came in the final three innings as the Black Tornado brought their production up a notch.
“As far as our pitching performance today, we want to get innings out of our girls early in these preseason games,” said Arnold, “and we got a nine-inning game out of Ally Nottingham against a top-10 6A school, so that’s awesome. We had a lot of kids get some good reps tonight, so a lot of positives came from this.”
North Medford sophomore pitcher Julia Edwards delivers a strike against Crater at Lithia & Driveway Fields in Medford Tuesday. (Andy Atkinson / for the Rogue Valley Times)
Junior shortstop Natalie Tlascala shook off a pair of errors and didn’t let that affect her at-bats, going 3-for-4 with one run and five RBIs. Tlascala had a two-run single in the bottom of the third to get the lead back for North Medford at 4-3, and then ripped the first pitch she saw with two outs in the bottom of the seventh for a game-tying two-run single.
“We had a couple miscues early on and her mental toughness really showed when she was able to lean on her teammates until she could get her groove back,” said Smalley of Tlascala, “and her teammates really lifted her up and brought her back to us.”
“Natalie’s a mental warrior up there when she’s at the plate,” he added. “She learns from every pitch and grows exponentially every time.”
Thoele finished 2-for-4 with two runs and two RBIs in her first game with the crosstown Black Tornado, while Sadie Hall was instrumental in the late-game comeback with both of her hits coming in the seventh and ninth innings.
For Crater, Nottingham finished 4-for-5 with two runs and two RBIs, while Espn Ostroskie was 3-for-4 with one run and one RBI after she followed Nottingham’s triple in the top of the seventh with an RBI single to short right field.
North Medford’s Natalie Tlascala, top, collides with Crater’s Allyson Nottingham at second base Tuesday at Lithia & Driveway Fields in Medford. (Andy Atkinson / for the Rogue Valley Times)
Abbey Canfield capped a three-run rally by the Comets in the fifth inning with a two-run single as the bottom portion of the order helped make up for a 2-for-21 showing in the top five spots of the batting order.
North Medford will return to the L&D Fields as host again for the North Medford Spring Break Invitational, which will bring many of the top teams across classifications to the Rogue Valley for competition against local squads that also include South Medford, Grants Pass, Eagle Point and Ashland.
Crater has ventured in and out of the tournament over the years, and this season has a spring break trip set to compete in Nevada.
The North Medford Spring Break Invitational boasts games that start as early as 8 a.m. and as late as 6 p.m. at the L&D complex. Admission is free, with fields brimming with nonstop action among teams that range from California to the Portland area.
“It’s not only a really good environment,” said Smalley, “but we have a pretty heavy schedule on our own with Foothills from California at 2 p.m. Monday, and then 6 p.m. against Lebanon, who is the preseason No. 1 in 5A. Then on Tuesday we have West Salem and McMinnville, who are preseason teams ranked ahead of us in 6A. We’ve got a pretty good schedule so we’ll find out more about ourselves coming up.”
Reach sports editor Kris Henry at khenry@rv-times.com or 458-488-2035
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