(Kelso, WA) – The Lower Columbia softball team lost its first league game of the season, but bounced back to get a split in a home doubleheader with Chemeketa on Tuesday March 26
th.
Red Devil pitchers issued 13 walks and hit two batters in a back-and-forth affair won by Chemeketa 16-15.
Sadie Knutson then settled things down with a solid victory in a 12-4 Devils win in the nightcap.
Game One – Chemeketa 16 Lower Columbia 15
The Devils were down 10-2 after four innings. Hard rain made it difficult for LCC starter
Teeghan Reams who get a proper grip. She walked six batters and plunked another.
Alexis Moore came on in relief and also struggled with control as she walked five and hit a batter.
Down by eight runs, the Devils rallied. In the 5
th,
Bella Aspaas got the rally started with a two run single. Head coach
Traci Fuller made the first of three great decisions involving pinch hitters. She sent up
Kaydence Mackin to the plate and Mackin sent the ball over the fence for a three-run homer making the score 10-7.
After Chemeketa got back two on a Cierra Hernandez homer, the Devils countered with a
Sawyer Stenson run scoring single and a
Brooklyn Loose two-run double. Fuller then made another pinch hit move by sending Allison Baumgardt to the plate. Baumgardt's three-run bomb gave LCC the lead at 13-12.
In the top of the 7
th, the Storm scored four runs off reliever Mackin to take a 16-13 lead.
Aspaas hit a clutch two-run single to get LCC within one run. But the rally fizzled on a couple of fly outs and the Storm came away with the win.
Loose was 3 for 5 with two RBI's. Aspaas was 2 for 5 with four RBI's.
Leanna Russell hit a two-run homer.
Game Two – Lower Columbia 12 Chemeketa 4
Chapped that they dropped the first game, the Devils came right out and scored three runs in the bottom of the first on a
Raychel Squibb three-run homer. The Storm tied it up in the second on an Alley Isaac three-run shot off Knutson.
Knutson buckled down and completed a great outing by going six innings, allowing eight hits, four runs with just two walks and nine strikeouts.
Coach Fuller made another great pinch hit call in the 5
th inning when she sent
Karlee VonMoos to the plate who came through with an RBI double to give LCC the lead.
Up 5-4 going to the bottom of the sixth, LCC scored seven runs to win the game on the eight run rule. Loose hit a three run homer. VonMoos followed with single. Another successful pinch hitter came through as
Alexis Keaveny singled to load the bases. Russell then came up with a walk off, three-run double to give LCC the victory.
The twin-bill lasted 6 ½ hours.
The Devils are 7-1 in South Region play. LCC will be back home for a double header with Clackamas, weather permitting. The games are slated to begin at 3 pm at Heerensperger Field at Tam O'Shanter Park in Kelso.
LCC then travels to Gresham for a key doubleheader with Mt. Hood Saturday at 12 pm.
