North Medford strikes first to claim rainy win over South Medford
Published 12:36 pm Wednesday, April 2, 2025
North Medford junior Natalie Tlascala drives through a first-inning pitch for an RBI single against South Medford at Lithia & Driveway Fields Tuesday. (Andy Atkinson / for the Rogue Valley Times)
North Medford and South Medford coaches speak with Tuesday's game officials as they discuss continuation of play at the end of a downpour of rain at Lithia & Driveway Fields. (Andy Atkinson / for the Rogue Valley Times)
North Medford's Natalie Tlascala pumps up the home team dugout after getting an RBI single against South Medford at Lithia & Driveway Fields in Medford Tuesday. (Andy Atkinson / for the Rogue Valley Times)
South Medford's Dannika Ostvik connects for a hit in the third inning against North Medford at Lithia & Driveway Fields in Medford Tuesday. (Andy Atkinson / for the Rogue Valley Times)
North Medford sophomore pitcher Julia Edwards delivers a strike against South Medford at Lithia & Driveway Fields in Medford Tuesday. (Andy Atkinson / for the Rogue Valley Times)
South Medford shortstop Hanna Turpin, left, slips the ball to second baseman Sydney Butterfield for an out against North Medford Tuesday. (Andy Atkinson / for the Rogue Valley Times)
North Medford shortstop Natalie Tlascala makes a catch for an out against South Medford at Lithia & Driveway Fields in Medford Tuesday. (Andy Atkinson / for the Rogue Valley Times)
South Medford senior Jayden Cote makes a play for an out against North Medford at Lithia & Driveway Fields in Medford Tuesday. (Andy Atkinson / for the Rogue Valley Times)
North Medford sophomore Kaelyn Russell-Tyler connects for an RBI single in the third inning against South Medford at Lithia & Driveway Fields in Medford Tuesday. (Andy Atkinson / for the Rogue Valley Times)
North Medford second baseman Kaelyn Russell-Tyler attempts a double play against South Medford at Lithia & Driveway Fields in Medford Tuesday. (Andy Atkinson / for the Rogue Valley Times)
Black Tornado follow rain delay with four-run surge in bottom of the first inning to help determine SWC softball opener
Rain came down hard but it was truly how North Medford was able to pour it on when play resumed that made all the difference Tuesday toward a 5-2 win over South Medford in a Southwest Conference softball opener relocated to Lithia & Driveway Fields.
The Black Tornado broke the rainy afternoon game open with four runs in the bottom of the first inning, and then were able to hold on thereafter to secure a big win in what expects to be a challenging SWC race.
“You look around the state and you see some people that have a very definite top and bottom,” said South Medford head coach Miranda Gillaspie. “In this league, you’re looking at North and South, and you’re looking at Roseburg and Sheldon, and Willamette looks like they’re coming out strong this year and just everybody. We don’t have that league that has like a top two and then nobody. Every game is going to be a battle this year.”
North Medford and South Medford coaches speak with Tuesday’s game officials as they discuss continuation of play at the end of a downpour of rain at Lithia & Driveway Fields. (Andy Atkinson / for the Rogue Valley Times)
Tuesday’s battle saw Mother Nature play a part, with a steady pregame drizzle turning into a downpour as the teams were set to change sides in the bottom of the first inning.
Following a 15-minute delay, field umpires made the decision to carry on in the lessened rainy conditions instead of postponing the contest, and North Medford (4-2, 1-0 SWC) seized its opportunity to take advantage of an atypical start by senior pitcher Jordan Knutson.
Slippery conditions seemed to take their toll, along with a patient and steady approach at the plate.
North Medford leadoff batter Maili Hamlin was hit by Knutson’s first pitch and stole second base, and then Maleyah Thoele drew a walk to apply immediate scoring pressure. Natalie Tlascala followed with a sharp scooter up the middle to plate the first run, and then stole second base before Becca Tuivana drew a walk of her own to load the bases.
Knutson finally began to find her grip and struck out Caileigh Raines for the first out on a full-count pitch, but the bottom of the Tornado really stepped up thereafter.
Julia Edwards followed with a blooper that got just beyond the reach of South Medford second baseman Sydney Butterfield for an RBI single, and then Jaycee Russell-Tyler golfed an RBI single up the middle to make it 3-0.
Kaelyn Russell-Tyler followed with a full-count groundout to shortstop to plate the fourth run before Knutson ended an inning where North batted through its lineup with a strikeout of Sadie Hall.
South Medford (5-1, 0-1), which entered the game having allowed a combined 10 runs, suddenly found itself swimming upstream down 4-0 entering the second inning.
North Medford’s Natalie Tlascala pumps up the home team dugout after getting an RBI single against South Medford at Lithia & Driveway Fields in Medford Tuesday. (Andy Atkinson / for the Rogue Valley Times)
“Where we’ve been successful early in the season is when we put a couple runs on the board, and it just gives you that little pressure off,” said Gillaspie. “We were just chasing all night long, and that’s just not a situation that we’ve been in so far this season.”
There was some frustration in sloppy conditions coming into play during that first inning — the weather began to clear thereafter before a little drizzle returned in the sixth — but that’s also just the reality of softball in Southern Oregon at this time of year.
“If it’s going to be a toe-to-toe matchup, you obviously want to play in ideal weather,” said Gillaspie, “but we live in Southern Oregon, and that’s just not going to be the case. You’ve just got to come out there and battle, and no matter what happened there, we still have to respond with the bats.”
That became increasingly more difficult against Edwards and a Tornado defense that made the routine plays but also had a couple spectacular moments.
Hamlin denied Jayden Cote of a potential home run down the left field line to open the second inning when she ran down the ball and gloved it at the top of the fence line. Tuivana later snared a hot shot off the bat of Knutson at third base, Raines made a nice dig on a one-hop throw from Tlascala at shortstop to preserve an out and Hamlin secured liners her direction in the sixth by Knutson and Aubree Joe that potentially could’ve been trouble.
In all, South Medford saw 14 of its 21 outs come via flyballs.
North Medford sophomore pitcher Julia Edwards delivers a strike against South Medford at Lithia & Driveway Fields in Medford Tuesday. (Andy Atkinson / for the Rogue Valley Times)
“We didn’t challenge them at all,” said Gillaspie. “A couple times we put the ball on the ground, and that’s going to push them to make a play, push them to have to throw a ball. Especially on a rainy day and they’re just camping out, you’re doing them a favor by not having to make a play.”
The sophomore Edwards kept the Panthers off balance all game — also taking advantage of a little overzealousness at the plate by South — to allow only four hits with one walk and one strikeout. Both runs against her in the second inning were unearned following a two-out throwing error by Tuivana.
“Give her credit, she kept us off balance today, and we just weren’t patient,” Gillaspie said of Edwards. “I mean, that first inning we saw maybe five or six pitches. And we talked about how you’ve got to sit back and wait and see a good pitch, but we just kept getting out on our front foot and just kind of like reaching for it, popping it up, reaching for it, popping it up, and just didn’t make an adjustment.”
Shelby Hillyer drew a two-out walk to set the table for South’s scoring surge in the second, advancing to third after the errant throw on Butterfield’s grounder.
As she’s done throughout the preseason schedule, freshman Addison Kaufman came up clutch on the next pitch with a two-run single to left field to cut the Panthers’ deficit in half at 4-2.
North Medford second baseman Kaelyn Russell-Tyler attempts a double play against South Medford at Lithia & Driveway Fields in Medford Tuesday. (Andy Atkinson / for the Rogue Valley Times)
North Medford caught a break in the third inning when a pickoff attempt at first base by the catcher Hillyer was ruled safe on a very close play. That pinch-runner, Reese Drysdale, stayed on base and eventually scored on another scooter back up the middle by Kaelyn Russell-Tyler for a 5-2 advantage.
South Medford couldn’t put much together after that, caught between gunning for big blasts without much change in the Panthers’ approach at the plate to offset Edwards’ slower offerings.
“The biggest thing is you’ve just got to string together some hits,” Gillaspie said of chasing a deficit. “One big hit right now is not going to change it — and we have some kids that can flat out hit the ball — but one hit wasn’t going to do it. In that situation when you’re getting late in the game, you need to get a kid on, move them over, get another kid on. You’ve got to chip away at it.”
That’s the approach North Medford carried throughout to victory. Knutson finished with nine strikeouts and five hits allowed, but walked six in unusual fashion for the senior right-hander. The Black Tornado had five groundouts compared to four flyball outs, and sent the minimum of three batters to the plate in only one of their six innings.
Tlascala for North (2-for-3 with one run and one RBI) and Kaufman for South (2-for-3 with two RBIs) were the only multiple hitters in Tuesday’s crosstown clash.
“Whatever needed to go the right way, it did for them,” said Gillaspie “You’ve got to give them credit. Anytime somebody is going to put up four or five runs on you, they’re doing something right.”
South Medford shortstop Hanna Turpin, left, slips the ball to second baseman Sydney Butterfield for an out against North Medford Tuesday. (Andy Atkinson / for the Rogue Valley Times)
As disappointing as Tuesday’s loss may have been, Gillaspie said it had more to do with her team not playing to its potential after a strong undefeated start to the spring than just falling one game back in the SWC standings.
“I mean, you’re on a little hot streak, and we didn’t leave our best out there tonight,” said the coach. “So that’s the hard part. We want to see them again — which, of course, we will — and actually feel like we played our game, because if you get beat by a better team, you get beat by a better team. I feel like tonight we weren’t our best selves, so we didn’t really get to truly see what the matchup would look like, in my opinion. But you’ve got to give credit to North, they did what they needed to do.”
Reach sports editor Kris Henry at kris.henry@rv-times.com or 458-488-2035
