Few saw it coming, but Glencoe is one win from a softball state title — and don't tell them they can't do it

This Saturday, the Glencoe softball team has an opportunity to cap one of the more surprising and unforeseeable state title runs in recent memory. But don’t tell that to the team or second-year head coach Wade Sahlfeld who isn’t nor at any point has been surprised by the product of a mountain of confidence that’s been brewing since day-one of the 2024 season.

“We knew what we were capable of, so it was just about getting to the tournament,” Sahlfeld said. “And once we started having success and playing team softball, they started to understand a little more of what we were capable of.”

The No. 21-seeded Tide finished the regular season with an overall record of 15-11 and tied for fourth place in the Pacific Conference. But since, have wins over No. 12 Sunset, No. 5 Central Catholic, No. 4 West Linn, and most recently No. 1-seeded Westview to earn a trip to this Saturday’s 6A title game against No. 2-seeded and defending champion Sheldon.

That’s an impressive run, and Sahlfeld believes it’s the direct result of the work, dedication, and unselfishness his girls have committed to over the course of the last couple of weeks, months, and year since last season came to an end.

“You see this success and people start understanding why we were doing the little things in the offseason, and they start to believe,” Sahlfeld said. “You can have the best template as a coach, but if you don’t get 100 percent buy-in it really doesn’t amount to anything. Having a younger team takes a while, but when it clicked, we’ve been rolling pretty good.

“And I told the girls that in order to have team success, you have to put the individual goals aside and have a common goal,” Sahlfeld said. “Then, those individual goals will start coming back around.”

All of which seems to be working.

Despite a roster with 10 combined freshmen and sophomores, the Tide have been able to turn that youth into an asset opposed to a liability by way of a group of seniors — Bailey Farrimond, Dominque Bouska, Isabel Hill and Jazmine Plummer — who the coach said have grown to understand the process of bringing along a young team — which isn’t easy.

“I think it speaks to the kids themselves,” Sahlfeld said. “As upperclassmen, they had to have a little patience during the beginning of the year because they knew what they wanted, but sometimes things don’t go as planned, so it’s about knowing the younger kids are going to learn and grow, and showing them how we do it at Glencoe.

“It goes to show what type of seniors we have.”

Farrimond—who’s done the bulk of the work in the circle for the Tide this season—has been one of those seniors tasked to help lead the team, and has done so by example by way of both her pitching and work at the plate. But Sahlfeld said she too had to grow by way of her belief in her teammates that the coach said have stepped up defensively behind the standout hurler.

“I think our defense has given Bailey (Farrimond) the confidence to go out there knowing she doesn’t have to have her best stuff,” Sahlfeld said. “She knows, and we all know that errors are going to happen, but it’s about not getting down on each other and reminding each other about how good we actually are.”

And how good may have been disguised by a conference that Sahlfeld believes hasn’t nor does get the respect it deserves.

“I just think the Pacific Conference is very underrated,” Sahlfeld said. “All season, we beat up on each other and there’s just some really good teams. Sherwood, Forest Grove, McMinnville, Century is turning it around, and Liberty’s got a new coach, so from top to bottom it’s just a tougher league than people give it credit for and I think going head-to-head with those teams prepared us for this situation.”

That situation is a state championship matchup with the defending champs.

A year ago, Sheldon won a state title despite not recording a hit in the championship game against Oregon City. After a hit-by-pitch broke up the Pioneers’ Lily Riley’s perfect game in the bottom of the seventh inning, the winning run scored on a wild play that resulted in a runner interference call that plated the winning run.

This season, the Irish are 28-3, haven’t lost to a team from the state of Oregon, are currently riding a 23-game win streak, and return star pitcher Payton Burnham who hasn’t allowed an earned run while giving up five hits, striking out 47, and walking one in 22 postseason innings in the circle.

None of that is news to Sahlfeld who knows his team has a tall task ahead of them.

“They’re a very good team,” Sahlfeld said. “I don’t think they’ve got a weak spot in their lineup, and they’re defensively sound and have a very good pitcher. They check all the boxes.”

With that in mind, and with all due respect to the defending champs, the Glencoe coach believes he and his team can’t make it about the Irish in an effort to be successful, but rather about them and what they do.

“We’re watching some film, but it’s not necessarily about Sheldon,” Sahlfeld said. “It’s never been about anybody we play, it’s about us and what we do. It’s about never backing down and competing our tails off, and if we do that we can stay in this game.”

And what would it mean to the coach to watch his kids raise that trophy? He hasn’t even begun to think about that. But what he has thought about is what it might mean to his girls — and he can’t help but be excited about that.

“It would mean that the kids have bought in and understand what it takes to put a winning team on the field,” Sahlfeld said. “They worked their tails off in the offseason, during summer ball, in the weight room at 5:30 a.m. four days a week, so it would be awesome if these kids got a chance to feel what would come with winning.”

Glencoe’s state title game with Sheldon is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Saturday, June 1, at Jane Sanders Stadium on the campus of the University of Oregon.