Advertisement
While he was growing up in Seattle, Wright used to make a habit of bugging his mom, Kim, to move back to the area she used to call home.
“The first time I came out here was Christmas of (20)06, and I just liked it right away,” said Wright, now an outfielder for the West Salem High School baseball team. “I wanted to move out here.”
Wright’s new teammates are thrilled with the decision Wright and his mom, a Logan graduate, made because he’s helped make them conference champions.
The junior leadoff hitter singled, walked three times and scored three times Tuesday night as the Panthers pounded Cochrane-Fountain City 14-3 in five innings.
The victory gave West Salem (15-4, 14-0) the outright championship in the Large Division of the Dairyland Conference.
“It’s a really good team, and I enjoy playing with all these guys,” said Wright, whose patient approach at the plate forced C-FC pitchers to throw 22 pitches during his four at-bats. “It’s exciting to be first in the conference and be undefeated (in the Dairyland).”
Wright moved from the Pacific Northwest to West Salem last summer. He had to wait until this summer to play baseball for his new school.
He passed his time athletically by playing soccer in the fall and golf in the spring.
But baseball is Wright’s favorite sport, and it shows with his ability to take over a key role for a very good team.
“He loves baseball,” West Salem coach Chuck Ihle said of Wright. “He eats it up, and his attitude is contagious on the team.”
Wright walked and scored in the first and second innings. He also singled and scored in the fourth when he smashed a 3-2 pitch past the bag at third base.
“He isn’t afraid to hit with two strikes,” Ihle said. “He isn’t afraid to take pitches, and that’s what makes him so good.
“He’s a good bat to have at the top of the order, that’s for sure.”
But every bat in the West Salem lineup was good to have on Tuesday because every spot in the order reached safely at least once. The Pirates used three pitchers, and they combined to give up eight hits and walk 12 batters.
Starter Sam White threw 46 pitches, but he couldn’t get through the first inning. Reliever John Schmidtknecht needed 34 to get the next three outs, but he couldn’t finish off the second inning.
West Salem catcher Shane Carlson doubled twice and drove in three runs. The first of those doubles came as part of a seven-run first inning and drove in Wright with the first run.
Todd Sommerfeldt is a sportswriter for the La Crosse (Wis.) Tribune.
He can be reached at (608) 791-8208 or todd.sommerfeldt@lee.net
