The Dalles senior left fielder Lori Cimmiyotti makes a diving catch of a flyball during the top of the seventh inning to get an out on Pendleton No. 4 hitter Payton Hergert. Cimmiyotti and the No. 12-ranked Riverhawks salvaged a split with Pendleton, winning the first game by a 9-8 score, and losing the second game, 15-3. Ray Rodriguez photo
The Dalles senior left fielder Lori Cimmiyotti makes a diving catch of a flyball during the top of the seventh inning to get an out on Pendleton No. 4 hitter Payton Hergert. Cimmiyotti and the No. 12-ranked Riverhawks salvaged a split with Pendleton, winning the first game by a 9-8 score, and losing the second game, 15-3. Ray Rodriguez photo
Coming into Saturday’s doubleheader with a 10-game losing streak against Pendleton, The Dalles Riverhawks stormed back from a 7-0 first-inning deficit with three runs apiece in the first, third and fifth innings to complete a 9-8 comeback victory in the opening game at 16th Street Ballpark.
“It was a really rough start to begin with, but we pulled it together and rallied together,” said TD senior Grace Helyer. “We got the job done, so it feels good. It was a great accomplishment to beat such a good team. Since I have been in high school, we haven’t been able to beat them, so now that we got a win, we are hoping to carry it over into the rest of the season.”
Trailing 8-6 in the bottom of the fifth inning, the bottom of the order got things going for The Dalles.
With Jodi Thomasian at third base and one out, Kailin Hoylman rifled an RBI single to left field to get the Hawks to within an 8-7 deficit.
Hoylman then stole second base, and leadoff hitter, Kathryn Bradford, hammered a run-scoring double to right centerfield to score Hoylman and tie the game at 8-apiece.
Ruthie Ford drove in Bradford on an infield single to cap the comeback.
TD starter Maddy Bradford retired the last six Pendleton hitters she faced, getting a diving catch by left fielder Lori Cimmiyotti, a line drive stab by shortstop Sierra Watson, and a lunging play in the hole at short by Watson.
Ford made the final putout from third base to end the game.
“Our defense, obviously stepped it up. We started making plays and gave ourselves a chance,” said TD head coach Steve Garrett. “We had tremendous plays from Lori, Sierra, Ruthie and Kathryn that helped their pitcher. If we can play that kind of defense, we will go a long, long ways. Our pitchers put the ball in play and we made plays. We made a couple of routine plays and also those stellar plays.”
Kathryn Bradford went 3 for 4 with two runs and an RBI, Watson added two hits, a walk and two runs, and Hoylman and Ford posted two hits each.
Maddy Bradford was 3 for 4 with three RBIs, including a 230-foot, two-run home run to deep leftfield in the bottom of the third inning.
Bradford allowed seven runs, five unearned, on four hits, two walks and three errors. The senior gave up three hits from the second inning on and added two strikeouts.
“Obviously, it wasn’t the greatest start to a game, but that has been how we have done things this year, at least lately. We start out rough and then we pick it back up,” Maddy Bradford said. “After the first inning, I went in the dugout and said something not so nice, but I think it got to the girls. We knew we had to pick things back up. We came out a little nervous because it was such a big game, but we settled down and played our style of softball. I was happy with how we did. We stepped it up.”
TD lost the nightcap by a 15-3 margin for the split to put itself in a third-place tie with Hood River Valley with a 2-3 record.
The Hawks (13-6 overall), now ranked 12th in the 5A class, travel to Pendleton for a game at 4:30 p.m., and then heads to Westside Elementary School for a league doubleheader on the road against Hood River Valley (9-9, 2-3) at noon Saturday.
“It feels good to get that ‘W’ against a good team like Pendleton, but we still need to keep that pressure on for our next games,” Helyer added. “We need to come out strong and end strong. I think everyone is going to be coming harder at us. They are going to be practicing more and working hard to beat us, so we need to keep that same intensity and work ethic to compete with these other teams.”
Commented
Sorry, there are no recent results for popular commented articles.