The Huskies held tie-breakers over both La Salle and Molalla, with three of their final four games against the bottom three teams in the league: Cascade (5-8), Stayton (3-8), and Estacada (0-13).

However, Cascade put a hitch in the Huskies’ plans, with a 6-5, come-from-behind win on Wednesday, knocking North Marion into fourth place and turning Friday’s match with Molalla into a crucial game.

“We were in the drivers seat, until that happened,” said North Marion coach Craig Lambert. “We knew what the situation was. We knew what had to happen. It was ours to lose, and we lost it. (Cascade) wanted it more than we did.”

The Huskies jumped out to a 4-0 lead, as they batted around in the first inning, but Cascade capitalized on two walks and a dropped third strike in the top of the second inning, closing the gap to 4-3 with a bases-loaded double.

Yet, from there, the two pitchers — North Marion’s Steven Grigsby and Cascade’s Alex Elmore, who entered the game in relief with two outs in the first inning - locked down the opposing offenses.

Grigsby stranded four Cougar base runners in the third and fourth, then retired six of the seven batters in the fifth and sixth innings, while Elmore cruised through the fourth inning.

“(Grigsby) threw a great game, really,” said Lambert. “It should have never been that close. We let teams hang around, then things like this happen.”

The Huskies threatened to pad their lead in the fifth, as Boomer Miller and Chase Sterett hit singles to lead off the inning, but Elmore retired the next three straight hitters and escaped with the one-run deficit intact.

In the seventh, Carl Mason was brought in to try and close out the game, after Grigsby walked the leadoff hitter, then allowed a single.

A wild pitch by Mason allowed the runners to advance, and a sacrifice fly tied the game at 4-4. A two-out double gave the Cougars their first lead of the game, and two more singles tacked on another run, giving Cascade a 6-4 lead, before Mason ended the inning with a strikeout.

In the bottom of the seventh, Miller gave the Huskies hope, hitting a solo home run on the second pitch of the inning, cutting the Cougars’ lead to one run. Elmore got a pair of outs on ground balls, and seemingly struck out AJ Basille, but a dropped third strike allowed the Husky centerfielder to reach base safely, keeping the Huskies alive.

Basille took second base on a wild pitch, but Kyle Zwicker watched three straight strikes to end the game. Zwicker was ejected, after a comment directed at the umpire.

Miller and Sterett both went 3-for-4 for the Huskies, but were overshadowed by the pitching performance of Elmore, who held the Huskies to just one run in 6 1/3 innings.