Columbia High played solid softball in its last three outings.
Unfortunately, the Bruins had just victory to show for it -- a 12-3 Trico League win on March 21 at Home Valley in a makeup game with an overmatched Stevenson squad.
The Bruins (1-3 in league and overall) followed up their first winning effort of the season with 3-2 and 6-3 defeats in double-header action Friday at Woodland.
"The positive thing I see coming out of the last three games is that we've been competitive," Bruins Coach Scott Ross observed, adding, "But we're still getting caught at times when we're not communicating with one another. And we're not making plays under pressure the way we should, and it's hurting us. If we can get those things ironed out, we should be able to keep games close and maybe steal a few wins."
In their win over Stevenson the Bruins teed off on Bulldogs pitching for a season-high 13 hits -- all singles -- more than tripling their first-game output. They put the game away with a six-run seventh inning.
Sophomore Mallory Holtman had three hits, drove in two runs and scored two to pace the CHS attack.
Junior Jessica Hinman, sophomore Crystal Blankenÿship and freshman Jessica Miller each went 2 for 4. Hinman and senior Megan Giron both scored two runs and hit RBI singles.
Columbia also played better defensively, committing just three errors -- half as many as it made in its season-opening loss to Washougal.
Pitchers Blankenship and Holtman were better the second time around, too, combining for eight strikeouts while giving up six singles and 10 walks.
Blankenship, who pitched five scoreless innings on the day, opened on the rubber for the Bruins, throwing the first three innings. She returned in the sixth to pick up the decision.
"When you look at the 10 walks, we were pretty
lucky to get out of there with the win," Ross noted. "Still we did a lot of good things. We hit the ball pretty good, cut down our physical errors and really cleaned up on our mental errors. Overall, we did a lot better job of making the right decisions."
Columbia went to Woodland on Friday for a league double-header in hopes of extending its winning streak, or at least coming away with a split.
The Bruins did neither as the Beavers defended their home field by 3-2 and 6-3 advantages.
In game one, Woodland scored the deciding run on a fielder's choice in the bottom of the fifth to break a 2-2 tie.
Columbia tied it up in the top of the fifth when senior Jennie Mansfield delivered a two-out double that sent Hinman home from second base.
Hinman, who had a team-best two hits in three trips, tallied CHS' first run in the third inning, scoring from third on a passed ball to knot things up at 1-1.
Save for the one-run exception, the two teams were more or less even. Each got solid starting pitching, each had five hits and each made five errors.
But two of the Bruins' errors proved costly as they aided Woodland in the scoring of its first and last runs.
"It was a real competitive game," Ross noted. "Crystal (Blankenship) did a nice job of keeping us in the game with her pitching, and for the most part, I thought we played pretty good ball. We just had a couple of errors that cost us."
In game two, four first-inning walks, augmented by four hits and an error, were the cause of CHS' undoing.
They led to five Woodland runs and eventually a 6-3 Beavers victory in a game that ended after the top of the sixth because of darkness.
Said Ross: "We dug ourselves a pretty deep hole there in the first inning and the girls easily could have deflated after that. But they kept it together, battled back and played them one-up the rest of the way."
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