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Saving the best for last Mail Tribune photo / Roy Musitelli North Medford's Kendra Strahm is all smiles after crossing the plate with the winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning. Strahm's dramatic sprint around the bases was put in motion when Darcy Cordell's two-out hit got past Sunset right fielder Chloe Pete, allowing Strahm to score the game-winning run from second base. North rallies from a 1-0 deficit in its last at-bat behind a two-out, two-run hit by Darcy Cordell By TIM PYLE Mail Tribune Call them lucky. Call them fortunate. Call them clutch. Call them what you will, but don't forget to call them winners. The North Medford High softball team did it again Tuesday afternoon, rescuing victory from the jaws of defeat in a 2-1 victory over Sunset in the first round of the Class 4A state playoffs. The fifth-ranked Black Tornado (22-5 overall) advances to face West Linn (16-8) at 4 p.m. today at Fagone Field. But if it weren't for Darcy Cordell's heroics, North would be lamenting a first-round exit and the end of head coach Larry Binney's magnificent 20-year run. Cordell, a sophomore shortstop, belted the game-winning hit with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning, lining Michelle Hext's 0-1 pitch through the right side of the infield. Pinch-runner Rachelle Willben trotted home from third base with the tying run, and, when Cordell's hit sped under right fielder Chloe Pete's glove, pinch-runner Kendra Strahm raced all the way home from second base. "I wasn't really all that nervous, actually," said Cordell, whose hit was the sharpest contact made off Hext all day. "I just went up there, and I knew if I put the ball in play, good things would happen. "I just happened to get a hit in the right spot at the right time, and I couldn't be more happy for my team and for Larry and for myself and for everything. ... This is my premier sporting accomplishment ever. Ever." An inning earlier, Cordell kept the Apollos from opening a 2-0 lead by making a stunning play to gun down Amanda Derrick at the plate. Hext's bloop single dropped in shallow left-center field between Cordell and a sliding Brandi Paxton, but Cordell picked up the ball, turned and fired a strike to catcher Britney Hillyer to nail Derrick, who started the sequence at second base. "I knew it was probably gonna drop unless I laid out for it, which would have been nearly an impossible catch," said Cordell, who went 2-for-3 offensively. "I just picked it up, and I threw it, and I couldn't have made a more perfect throw. ... I don't how I did it. It's just kinda instinct - you pick it up, and you throw it." Derrick had just staked Sunset to a 1-0 edge by doubling to left-center field, driving home Pete. That run broke a stretch of 11 complete innings of scoreless play between the two teams, counting Monday's canceled game that went six innings before rain washed it away. Tornado junior Keri Sevano and Hext, a senior, waged a classic pitching war over both days, showing why they were named the players of the year in the Southern Oregon Conference and Metro League, respectively. "Both pitchers pitched tremendous ballgames," Binney said. After each rendered the opposition's offense silent in Monday's canceled affair, the pair resumed its duel Tuesday. North's best threat until the final inning came in the first, when Paxton's two-out walk and Corey Whitaker's infield single preceded a double steal to make it second and third. But Hext, headed to Portland State to play softball next year, struck out Hillyer, a senior who was selected first-team all-SOC for the third straight spring this season and has signed to play collegiately at Nevada-Las Vegas (UNLV). The Apollos first hit off Sevano was a single to center by Andi Peterson in the third. In the bottom of that inning, the Tornado received a one-out infield single from Deni Rowley. The freshman right fielder advanced to second on a passed ball and to third on Beth Morrill's groundout to the second baseman. Paxton smacked Hext's second pitch toward the right-side hole, but Sunset second baseman Nellie Twohy dove to her left, stood and tossed the ball to first to record the third out and save a run in the process. Sevano and Hext retired the sides in order in the fourth, and Cordell's single was the only noise from either side in the fifth. Sunset's sixth-inning rally came with two outs and started when Pete beat out an infield single to first. Then Derrick drove Sevano's 2-1 pitch into the gap to plate Pete, and Hext's single led to the play at the plate, which was close and questionable enough to spark debate from Apollos head coach Roni Illias. Hext mowed down North in order in the bottom of the sixth. Sevano did the same in the top of the seventh. Whitaker was first up with the Tornado down to its final three outs, and her soft liner on Hext's 0-1 pitch found the grass in shallow center field. Hext recorded her seventh and final strikeout against Hillyer for the first out of the inning. Binney inserted Megan Lamson as a pinch-hitter for Laura Tarkon, but when Lamson bunted the first two Hext offerings foul, Binney put in Tarkon again with an 0-2 count. Tarkon worked the count full before bouncing out to the first baseman, and North was one out away from an upset loss. Sevano came to the plate and chopped an 0-1 pitch toward shortstop, but as Derrick crouched to field it, the ball hopped up and off her chest. The error put runners at second and third. "I was hoping that was it," said Illias, who directed Sunset to a 13-5 league record and the Metro's third seed in her first season in charge. "But you have to make it happen first, and anything could happen with two ballclubs the way that we were playing these past two days." Next was Cordell, and her heroics - and the misplay by Pete - gave the Tornado its most impractical victory in a season of comeback victories. Tuesday's win was the seventh North has secured in its final at-bat. "Larry, one of these days he's probably gonna get a coronary, but that's OK," Cordell said. "We're a good comeback team, and we always know we can win and we never give up." Binney, who coached the Tornado to its 17th SOC crown in his 20 seasons this spring, believes this squad may rally better than any he's had. "You've gotta believe," Binney said. "This team, they believe, no matter what the situation is. They believe that they can win no matter how much their backs are against the wall, maybe better than any team that we've had in 20 years. "They have a tremendous amount of confidence in each other, in themselves. They're just making it tough on the old guy." Now, North encounters a West Linn team that went 12-4 to claim the second seed out of the Three Rivers League and beat Benson, 1-0, in the first round Monday. The Lions, who have won seven straight, boast a top-line pitcher in junior Crystal Rey. Seniors Ashlee Holstrom, a first baseman, and shortstop Stacey Dierickx joined Rey as first-team all-Three Rivers selections. Sevano, who yielded four hits and one run while striking out six Tuesday to raise her ERA to 0.71, said she'll be set to pitch again. "I'm ready for it," said Sevano, winner of 11 straight decisions since a 5-0 loss to North Eugene on April 16. "I'll get some sleep tonight and be ready to go." Sunset .............................................. 000 001 0 - 1 4 2 North Medford ................................. 000 000 2 - 2 5 1 Hext and Wilson; Sevano and Hillyer. W - Sevano (16-1). L - Hext. 2B - S: Derrick. Reach reporter Tim Pyle at 776-4483 or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2002 Mail Tribune, Inc.