After posting a win and a tie in Monday’s opening rounds of the Riverhawk Invitational Spring Break Tournament, The Dalles lost two close games to West Anchorage, Alaska and Gresham Tuesday to finish action with a 1-2-1 record in four games.
The one win, an 8-0 shutout of Wilsonville on Monday, was played crisp and clean through seven innings.
In the tie and two losses, however, the Riverhawks committed 22 errors in 21 innings.
“The downfall of every game that we lost or tied, is inconsistency on defense,” said The Dalles head coach Steve Garrett. “We got pitching that is doing the job. Both Sierra (Watson) and Maddy (Bradford) and even Kathryn Bradford put the ball where they needed to put it, but we were not getting the results that we wanted. We were not turning the plays. When we do turn the plays, we win ballgames. It is just a matter of focusing up.”
Walk-off homer drops TD, 11-10
Against West Anchorage Tuesday, the Riverhawks committed seven miscues that led to five unearned runs, as Eagle cleanup hitter Lauren Syrup blasted a walk-off solo home run in the bottom of the seventh inning to give her team an 11-10 victory.
In the seven innings there were three ties and five lead changes with The Dalles bolting out to a 7-3 lead entering the fourth inning.
The Eagles scored two in the bottom of the fourth, added two more in the fifth and tacked on three runs in the sixth inning to go out in front 10-8.
With just three outs remaining, The Dalles sent seven batters to the plate and used two hits and two walks to score two runs.
Morgan Goslin drove in Hannah Harris with an RBI double to right field to make it 10-9 West Anchorage.
With Grace Helyer at the plate, Goslin advanced to third on a wild pitch. Helyer later was issued a walk to put runners on the corners for Ruthie Ford.
On the first pitch she saw, Ford hit a slow grounder to short and Goslin crossed the plate to even the score at 10-apiece.
Maddy Bradford then reached on an infield single to put runners on the corners once again, but a strikeout ended the rally.
Syrup was the first batter of the bottom of the seventh inning and she laced a 1-0 pitch over the left field fence for the game-winning home run.
All told, the Riverhawks had 11 hits, received six walks and a hit by a pitch.
Ford went 4 for 5 with a run scored and three RBIs, and Goslin added three hits, scored twice and drove in a run.
Harris reached on two walks and scored three times, Helyer went 2 for 4 and Jodi Thomasian had a hit in four at-bats, but drove in four runs, including a fourth inning bases-clearing triple that gave TD its largest lead at 7-3.
Watson allowed 11 hits, walked one and struck out three in her complete-game performance.
“You could say that when we got down on our defense and we made some errors, we knew that we could come right back and get those runs back with our offense,” Thomasian said. “Our offense is really strong. The whole lineup is strong throughout. It is not just the top doing good and then it dies off towards the end. It is strong throughout the entire lineup.”
Smith too strong for the Hawks
In the nightcap, TD went up against a buzzsaw in Gresham pitcher Shi-Ann Smith.
The sophomore scattered two hits, allowed one unearned run and struck out nine to lead the No. 9-ranked and undefeated Gophers to a 4-1 win.
Smith retired nine Riverhawk batters in a row at one point from the first through third innings until a walk to Maddy Bradford ended that streak with two outs in the fourth.
Smith only allowed one other hits the rest of the way and allowed one runner to advance as far as second base.
“She threw the ball harder tonight than she has all year,” said Gresham head coach Dave Anderson. “She moved the ball around and changed speeds and did a great job of keeping them off-balanced. When she can do that, she is pretty tough to hit.”
The Dalles actually got off to solid start against Smith with a single run in the bottom of the first inning.
Harris struck out, but reached safely on a throwing error.
Two outs later, Goslin roped an RBI single to centerfield to plate Harris to give TD a 1-0 lead.
Gresham (5-0 overall) took the lead for good in the top of the fourth inning on a walk, an error and a hit.
With the Gophers up 2-1, Dee McCloyn hit a hard shot that hit the top of the fence and over for a home run to make it 3-1.
Gresham would then add an insurance marker in the sixth on a run-scoring double by McCloyn.
TD’s Bradford gave up four runs, two unearned, on four hits and five walks in her seven innings.
The junior, who retired four in a row to end her appearance, struck out three.
What gives Bradford confidence is knowing that she can amp up her game when the stakes are raised.
All of her offseason work is paying off.
“I feel that it is not just me trying to be a star or anything, it is about us being a team that can depend on each other playing as one,” Bradford said. “We are meshing really well as a team. Compared to last year, we would start high and then go low, but we are higher and higher every time. That’s what it is going to take.”
The Dalles (4-3-1) travels to South Albany for a single game at 4:30 p.m. Friday.
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