Double-header splits last week with two of the four teams ahead of it in Trico Division standings have given Columbia High a new lease on its 2003 season.
The Bruins (3-5 in Trico, 4-5 overall) took the second game of a twinbill with Castle Rock here last Friday after giving the first one away.
On April 16, they divided a two-game set with the Beavers in Woodland, winning the opener but losing the nightcap.
At Columbia High 3-4, Castle Rock 6-3 --
The Bruins outhit the Rockets, 17-8, led by senior Mallory Holtman's 4-for-8 performance at the plate.
The right-hander (3-4) also got the win in game two, scattering six hits over seven innings.
CHS turned a 2-0 deficit into a 3-2 lead after three, scoring three runs on three hits (including RBI singles by Holtman and senior Bobbi Ziegler) and two Castle Rock errors in the bottom of the inning.
The Bruins added an insurance run in the bottom of the fourth to double their advantage to 4-2.
They survived the bottom of the seventh, despite committing two of their four errors, to come away with a big win.
In game one, Castle Rock scored five times in the top of third with one away to take a 5-1 lead.
The first two Rockets reached on errors against losing pitcher Crystal Blankenship (1-1), who hit a batter to load the bases with none out.
Following a strikeout, the first run scored on a fielder's choice and the next two came home on passed balls. A dropped fly ball by CHS's left fielder resulted in another run.
A single up the middle put runners at the corner. A basehit up the middle scored the runner from third, but the trail runner was thrown out at the plate with a perfectly executed 8-4-2 relay.
The final out came when sophomore catcher Chelsey Troup shot down a Rocket trying to steal third base on the same play.
Columbia took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first when Troup stroked a two-out single to right field to bring in junior Shelly Putnam, who advanced to second on sophomore Corrine Blankenship's sacrifice bunt.
The Bruins made it 5-2 in the home half of the third on senior Crystal Blankenship's single, which plated Holtman, who singled with one out.
It was deja vu all over again in the fifth. This time Holtman reached on an infield single and scored on Blankenship's double into the gap in left-center field.
Castle Rock doubled its lead to 6-3 in the top of the sixth after a batter reached on an error and later scored on a passed ball.
CHS got a two-out single by senior Lisa Graves in the bottom of the seventh but couldn't capitalize.
Columbia High 12-0, at Woodland 10-8 --
Chelsey Troup drove in three runs with three hits as the Bruins hammered Woodland ace Sarah Bolen for 13 hits in the opener.
Columbia led 9-0 before Woodland mounted its comeback in the home half of the fifth inning.
The Beavers tacked on six runs in a sixth-inning uprising to pull within 10-9.
CHS countered with two runs of its own in the top of the seventh and Mallory Holtman held off Woodland in the bottom half to earn her first save.
Holtman led the Bruins with four hits in five trips and scored three runs.
Winning pitcher Crystal Blankenship reached base four times (two walks, twice hit by pitches) and scored four times to help her own cause.
Shelly Putnam added two hits, one a run-scoring single, and scored twice for the Bruins, who avenged a season-opening loss to the Beavers. Lisa Graves also had two hits.
Bolen rebounded in game two to shut out the Bruins. She allowed one hit (a single by Crystal Blankenship), struck out nine and didn't walk a soul.
Losing pitcher Holtman whiffed four but got roughed up for eight runs on seven hits and four walks.
Columbia High 11, at Klickitat 3 --
Mallory Holtman pitched a one-hitter and struck out 11 Vandals as the Bruins won their first non-league game of the year April 15.
CHS beat Klickitat ace Jaecee Ramsay, who yielded seven hits and four walks. She also fanned seven.
Lisa Graves scored three runs, and Holtman and junior Jessica Miller each touched the dish twice for CHS, which got RBIs from Miller, Crystal Blankenship, Bobbi Ziegler and Shelly Putnam.
Kaeley Schultz scored two of Klickitat's runs. RBIs were credited to Naomi Vitale -- who had the Vandals' lone hit -- and Ramsay.
At Castle Rock 7, Columbia High 3 --
The Rockets scored their seven runs in the third and fifth innings April 14 to overcome an early 2-0 Bruins lead.
Four of Castle Rock's six hits came during a three-run third inning. Columbia's only two errors of the game occurred in the Rock's four-run fifth at-bat.
Bobbie Ziegler went 2 for 4 for CHS with a triple and an RBI. Crystal Blankenship was 2 for 3 with two runs.
She also was a standout on defense with two assists, throwing out would-be base-stealers in the second and third innings.
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