Scappoose senior Abigail Stansbury, signed with Eastern Nazarene, is batting .491 this season. (Photo by Jen Komp)

A new indoor hitting facility has contributed to the success of Scappoose's softball team this season.

The Indians, No. 3 in the OSAAtoday 4A coaches poll, are averaging 11.4 runs per game, an increase of 3.2 runs from last season. Coach Lindsey Johnson partially attributed the improvement to the extra time the players have spent refining their swings in the facility, which opened in November.

“We're definitely stronger hitting this year,” Johnson said. “We got a lot more reps in. We were spending Sundays in there. When our season started off pretty wet, we had some place to go and get some hits in.”

Scappoose, eliminated in the first round of the 5A softball playoffs last year, is thriving in its move to 4A. The Indians are 15-2, 6-1 in the Cowapa League, and have risen to No. 3 in the OSAA power rankings.

Their only losses have come against Marist Catholic and St. Helens, teams they have defeated. In late March, they won 13-8 over reigning 5A champion Pendleton, which is No. 2 in the 4A coaches poll.

“Coming into the season, I knew we were going to be pretty successful,” said Johnson, who is in her third season as coach. “We had a good group coming back, so I was expecting to have a pretty good run in league. I think they've jumped those expectations.”

Senior Abigail Stansbury, who has signed with Eastern Nazarene (Mass.), is batting .491 with nine doubles, one triple and 17 RBIs. Freshman Saige Casey (.467, 11 doubles, one home run, 16 RBIs) and sophomore Ava Vetsch (21 RBIs) also have consistently produced at the plate.

Junior Kaitlyn Ventris, who missed the first month of the season while recovering from an injury she suffered in basketball, is batting .500 with two home runs and 10 RBIs in five games.

Casey has not allowed an earned run in 36 innings, giving up 11 hits, striking out 61 and walking six in 10 games. Senior Jessica Nelson (2.26 ERA, 54 strikeouts, five walks) also has been solid in the circle.

Scappoose, runner-up in the 5A Northwest Oregon Conference last year, is battling it out in the Cowapa with co-No. 4 Astoria (14-2, 5-0), the reigning league champion. The Indians also have been tested by longtime rival St. Helens (12-7, 5-3), winning two of three games from the Lions, another NWOC transplant.

Scappoose is scheduled to finish the regular season with back-to-back games against Astoria, at home May 12 and on the road May 15. The second game will resume a suspended contest from last month, when host Astoria led the Indians 1-0 in the bottom of the fourth inning before play was halted by a hailstorm.

Scappoose was a longtime member of the Cowapa before leaving for the NWOC in 2018-19. Johnson said returning to the 4A league has been a “good change.”

“We have a pretty solid league with St. Helens and Astoria,” Johnson said. “It's good having St. Helens. They're always competitive with us. We made the change and we didn't really skip a beat. We didn't think we were going to be better because we had been 5A in the past. We knew 4A was strong.”

Scappoose won its only state title in 1995. The Indians last played in the state final in 2007, losing to Central.

No. 1 Sheldon goes down

No. 4 South Medford handed No. 1 Sheldon its first defeat of the season Saturday, rallying from a two-run deficit to win 3-2 in the second game of a 6A Southwest Conference doubleheader.

The host Panthers (16-4, 9-4)) trailed 2-0 in the fourth inning before junior Bri Turrey pulled them even with a two-out, two-run single up the middle. South Medford took a 3-2 lead an inning later when junior Kaycee Hudson reached on an error and scored on a throwing error after a passed ball.

Sheldon (19-1, 13-1) threatened to score in the top of the seventh against Hudson when junior Kinley Pappas led off with her third double of the game. But she remained stuck on second base as the Panthers buckled down on defense and got a game-ending strikeout from Hudson.

Sheldon outhit South Medford 8-3 in the second game but left nine runners on base and was undone by three errors. Hudson fanned nine to pick up the win in the circle. Irish junior Payton Burnham took the loss.

Sheldon won the first game of the doubleheader 2-0 as Burnham pitched a two-hitter with nine strikeouts. She outdueled sophomore Jordan Knutson, who tossed a three-hitter with nine strikeouts.

Tigers knock off Scio

Sheldon wasn't the only unbeaten team to taste defeat in the past week.

Scio, which opened the season with 15 consecutive wins, lost at Yamhill-Carlton 5-4 on Monday in a first-place showdown in 3A Special District 2.

No. 3 Yamhill-Carlton (17-3, 9-1), which lost at Scio 3-1 on April 22, bolstered its district-title hopes with the win over the second-ranked Loggers (16-1, 10-1).

The Tigers scored twice in the first inning and made it 3-0 in the third inning on an RBI double by senior Lexiss Antle. They opened a 4-0 cushion in the fourth inning when senior Dorothy Adair scored on an error.

The Loggers rallied with four runs in the fifth inning, pulling even at 4-4 on a bases-clearing double by freshman Macy Johnson. But Yamhill-Carlton got the go-ahead run in the sixth inning when sophomore Kaitlyn Knapp drew a two-out walk, stole second and third and scored on a single by senior Kya Ellis.

Heading into Thursday games, the only unbeaten teams left in the state were 3A Burns (18-0) and 2A/1A North Douglas (18-0).