(Salem, OR) – The Lower Columbia Red Devils used a potent offense and timely pitching in a sweep over Chemeketa on Friday March 17
th.
Game #1: LCC 16 Chemeketa 5 (5 innings)
The Devils got South Region play off to a flying start with a mercy-rule victory over Chemeketa.
Teeghan Reams hit three home runs and drove in five runs to lead a potent offense.
Reams got the party started with a two-run shot in the top of the first inning. Chemeketa came back to take a 3-2 lead with three unearned runs off starter
Alli Heater. Two infield errors led to the damage.
But the Storm lead didn't last long.
Emily Panush and
Sawyer Stenson hit back to back doubles to tie it up in the second.
Lower Columbia then rolled seven in the top of the third. Heater hit a moon shot homer.
Raychel Squibb followed with a double.
Destiny Dunlap drove Squibb home with a single. Panush hit an RBI double. Stenson kept it going with an RBI single. Reams then blasted another two-run long ball.
Up 10-3, Heater took it from there. The Devils added more insurance in the 4
th with four more runs, all with two outs. Panush hit and RBI single and
Sunny Bennion got into the homer run derby with a three run shot.
Reams wasn't finished as she unloaded her third homer, a three-run shot in the 5
th.
Kennedy Williams capped off the big offensive game with a two-run double.
Heater got the complete game victory, allowing five runs, but just two earned. The freshman from Yakima is now 5-1 in the circle for the Red Devils.
Game #2: LCC 10 Chemeketa 6
The Red Devils offense continued to shine in the second game. Reams continued to pound the softball as she got the scoring started with a first inning RBI double.
Starter
Darby DeRuyter gave up two runs in the bottom of the first, but settled down after that.
LCC scored three runs in the second when
Ella Dillon's bunt single was thrown all over the yard and she scampered home as three runs came into score.
Heater crushed a 275 foot bomb to lead off the third.
Sadie Knutson followed with her first college hit and RBI, a run scoring triple. The Devils jumped up 6-2.
DeRuyter continued to pitch well into the 4
th. Reams added another RBI single in the top of the inning.
LCC got Stenson and Reams run-scoring doubles in the 6
th, followed by a Panush RBI single.
Up 10-2 in the bottom of the sixth, the Devils let the possible mercy rule win slip away as the Storm rallied for four runs.
Knutson came on the 7
th and got two strikeouts as the Devils got the 10-6 victory.
LCC, 2-0 in the South, will take on Clark in a 12 pm double header on Saturday March 18
th in Vancouver.
