Red Devil softball ran its winning streak to 22 games over the weekend, sweeping both Mt. Hood and Centralia. LCC now stands 27-2 overall and 16-0 and leads the NWAC South Region by three games over Mt. Hood and Southwestern Oregon.
 
There were plenty of highlights. Head Coach Traci Fuller  (15th season) got her 400^th career win in the 9-1 win to open play Friday over Mt. Hood, which came into the doubleheader as the top-ranked team in the recent coach's poll.
 
Pitchers Ava Eib and Zoey Hughes each threw two complete games, combining to allow just eight runs over the four games. Hughes and Eib are ranked as the number 1-2 NWAC pitchers for ERA, wins and strikeouts.
 
And in the 3-2 win at Centralia, Chehalis native Kendall Humphrey (Adna HS) returned home to Lewis County and blasted a dramatic, two-run sixth inning HR to propel the Red Devils to the win, closing the weekend.
 
Lower Columbia is off until Saturday, when it travels to Yakima to play in the NWAC crossover. The Devils will play two games each on Saturday and Sunday against teams and at times to be announced.
 
FRIDAY, APRIL 3 (HOME)
Game one: Lower Columbia 9, Mt. Hood 1 (five innings) – In the matchup of #1 vs #2 it was all Devils from the start. Elysa Nash got it started with a first inning solo HR for Lower Columbia. Jaime Haase followed in the second inning with a two-RBI single and Emma Langsi lifted a long sacrifice fly to put LCC up 4-1.
 
LCC broke it wide open in the third inning. Alisyn Parkin led off with a solo homer, followed by consecutive doubles from Humphrey, Danika Hallom and Haase. Gabi Silveria then belted her league-leading 14^th home run (two RBI).
 
Up 9-1, Hughes closed out the five-inning mercy rule win. The sophomore righty allowed four hits and just one walk while fanning five Saints.
 
Silveria, Parkin, Haase and Hallom all had two hits. Haase drove in three runs.
 
Game two: Lower Columbia 7, Mt. Hood 3 – It was another quick start for LCC, scoring two runs in its first at bat. Silveria singled, Nash smoked a run-scoring double and Parkin added an RBI single.
 
After the Saints made it 2-1 in the third, just like game one LCC answered with a five-spot. Nash drove in a pair with a triple, Avery Garvey lined a two-run single and eventually scored when a wild throw allowed her to score on a "Little League home run."

With a commanding lead, Eib gave up only one harmless single in each of the next three innings, before the Saints used a walk and two hits to draw within 7-3. Eib coaxed a foul pop fly to Garvey at first base to end it and LCC had the sweep.
 
Eib scattered eight hits, walked one and fanned nine. She leads the NWAC with 136 strikeouts.
 
Silveria had three hits and Nash was 2-3 with a double and triple and three RBI.
 
SATURDAY, APRIL 4 (AT CENTRALIA)
Game one: Lower Columbia 9, Centralia 2 – Another quick start for the Devils, as Garvey and Hallom both singled in the first and each drove in a run.
 
Emma Langsi, the hitting star of game one, ripped a double to lead off the second. Dani Ambriz followed with an RBI single. Langsi struck again in the third with an RBI double.  She later led off the fifth inning with her third 2B of the game and scored on an Eib single.
 
From there Nash took over,the offense, hitting a sac fly in the fifth and smashing a long two-run bomb in the seventh to close the scoring.
 
Hughes pitched a complete game two-hitter with 14 strikeouts, only giving up two solo home runs to Centralia's Makayla Chavez. Hughes is now 12-0 on the season and 28-0 over her two seasons in the circle for LCC.
 
Game two: Lower Columbia 3, Centralia 2 – The weekend finale was an outstanding pitcher's duel between Eib and the Blazers' Emma Hoffmeister. Eib gave up just three hits and Hoffmeister allowed four in the seven-inning game.
 
The Blazers led 1-0 until the fourth, when LCC's Cerenity Fake walked, later advanced to third base and scored on a passed ball.
 
Tied at 1-1 in the 6^th, Haase battled through a 10-pitch at bat, fouling off five straight pitches before looping a single to CF. That's when Humphrey broke out the boom stick and hit the go ahead two-run blast.
 
The Blazers added a single run in the seventh, before Eib shut the door with her 13^th K and LCC had the Saturday sweep.
 
Silveria and Langsi had the other two LCC hits.
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