THE DALLES senior Morgan Goslin hits a ground ball to the pitcher in the top of the sixth inning of Thursday’s non-league softball game in The Dalles. No. 12 Sandy scored four runs in the fifth inning and held off a late The Dalles rally charge to secure an 8-7 road victory.
THE DALLES senior Morgan Goslin hits a ground ball to the pitcher in the top of the sixth inning of Thursday’s non-league softball game in The Dalles. No. 12 Sandy scored four runs in the fifth inning and held off a late The Dalles rally charge to secure an 8-7 road victory.
The No. 12-ranked Sandy Pioneers rebounded from an early 3-2 deficit with six unanswered runs, but held off a late-charging The Dalles team to secure an 8-7 victory Thursday in a non-league softball contest played at 16th Street Ballpark.
Down by one run in the top of the seventh inning, the Riverhawks tried to get the tying run across the plate against Sandy reliever Noelle Centeno.
The junior right-hander surrendered a leadoff double to left field off the bat of TD’s Grace Helyer to put the tying run in scoring position.
One out later, Riverhawk sophomore Sierra Watson reached base on a fielder’s choice to put runners on first and second base with one out.
Lori Cimmiyotti then laid down a sacrifice bunt to put those two runners in scoring position.
Facing a tense situation, Centeno buckled down and retired the side on a game-ending strikeout looking to give the Lady Pioneers their third win of the season.
“They showed a lot of resiliency and heart,” said Sandy head coach Kellie Wilkerson of her squad. “The team we played today is outstanding. They have a lot of heart themselves. It was just a back-and-forth battle and thankfully we came out on top.”
Ahead by a 4-3 score in the bottom of the fifth inning, the Pioneers scored four runs off TD starter Maddy Bradford on four hits and two errors.
The Dalles cashed in three runs in the top of the sixth inning, as Bradford walked, Watson was hit by a pitch and Cimmiyotti singled to left to load the bases.
After a strikeout, Hannah Harris dug in against Sandy starter Audrey Seipert.
Harris rifled a bases-clearing triple to right centerfield to plate Bradford, courtesy runner Shaynie Watson and Cimmiyotti to inch the Hawks to within an 8-6 deficit.
Seipert was then lifted for Centeno.
With Harris standing at third base, Centeno uncorked a wild pitch, allowing Harris to score to make it an 8-7 Sandy lead.
“I think what we can learn is that this was a close game even though we had six errors,” Watson said. “If we didn’t have those, the score would have been totally different. If we can just learn to fix the mistakes, we will be totally fine.”
Overall, the Riverhawks rapped out seven hits, received four walks and had one batter reach on a hit by a pitch.
No. 3-ranked The Dalles (5-4 overall) scored seven runs, but also stranded eight base runners, six in scoring position.
Harris paced the offense with a 3 for 4 effort with three RBIs and two runs scored.
Helyer added two hits and two RBIs and the trio of Jodi Thomasian, Morgan Goslin and Bradford had two walks apiece.
Bradford lasted five innings and allowed eight runs, five unearned, on nine hits, with two walks and a strikeout for the loss.
Her defense committed six errors behind her.
TD head coach Steve Garrett talked about going over a team philosophy of having a three-pronged attack of pitching, defense and hitting.
Getting all three phases perfected has been a challenge in the early part of the season.
“We’ve had excellent pitching in nine out of nine games. Between Sierra and Maddy, they have not had a letdown performance yet,” Garrett said. “Only thing that has killed us is throwing the ball away. That hurts our pitchers. They throw the right pitch in the right spot and get a ground ball, a popup or an easy throw and their teammates can’t make the plays behind them.”
The Dalles has two home games and two road games before the start of league play on April 18.
Sierra Watson is not worried about a 5-4 start, but is looking bigger picture.
These Riverhawks have enjoyed success over the years even when faced with adversity.
“I am really confident in this team. All of us have been together throughout (Cherry City) Crush and all but two of us have won a state championship at 14U and finished undefeated,” said Watson, a sophomore. “This team can work together really well. I know that we can put it all together and do better.”
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