Lady Devils nab pair of one-run wins
Saturday, May 3, 2008 11:15 AM PDT
By Rick McCorkle
Printable version
E-mail this articleWhat a difference a day makes.
After pounding Southwestern Oregon for 30 hits, including nine home runs, in a pair of five-inning victories on Thursday, the Lower Columbia College Lady Devils had to fight to win both ends of an NWAACC Southern Division twinbill from those same Lakers 24 hours later at Tam O'Shanter Park.
LCC won the opener 1-0 and needed eight innings to claim the nightcap 7-6. The sweep pushed the Lady Devils, winners in 14 of their last 15 games, to 32-7 overall, 16-6 in league. The Lakers slipped to 17-26, 7-15 in league.
"That was like night and day from Thursday's games," LCC coach Tim Mackin said. "When you're playing a team four times in a row you get used to the pitching. Their pitchers came out and threw a lot better than Thursday and did a nice job keeping us off-balance with inside-outside pitches. We also didn't clutch up and hit the ball like we did Thursday."
The victories also moved Mackin into a tie with former Clackamas coach Paul Fiskum as the winningest softball coaches in conference history. Fiskum amassed a 575-213 record (.730 winning percentage) in 788 games spanning 19 seasons. Mackin has a 575-135 record (.810) in his 16th season through 710 games.
In the opener, LCC didn't hit in the clutch, leaving 10 baserunners stranded - including five in scoring position. The Lady Devils also showed a lack of aggression at the plate as Lakers pitcher Karma Rice threw 18 first-pitch strikes, many of which were not swung at.
LCC loaded the bases in the fifth on a base hit from Anna Owen, an error landed Kayla Vickaryous at first with two outs and Jessi Hanna was hit by a pitch. But cleanup hitter Camy Way grounded out to second to end the threat.
In the sixth, leadoff hitter Carri O'Neil belted a 2-2 offering over the right-center field fence. LCC later loaded the bases with singles from Kassandra Myers and Courtney Sherman, and a walk to Samantha Petrich. But Vickaryous struck out on three pitches to finish the inning.
O'Neil scattered four hits in the victory. LCC tallied seven hits, with Myers collecting a pair of singles.
In the nightcap, Southwestern Oregon jumped to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning with a three-run homer off Lady Devils pitcher Tasia Trochim. In the third, the Lakers parlayed three singles and a double into three runs for a 5-0 lead.
LCC scored twice in the second on RBI singles from Vickaryous and Hanna, and plated three runs in the fifth when Way belted a round-tripper to dead-center field that landed some 40 feet over the 200-foot fence.
Neither team scored in the sixth and seventh innings. In the sixth, LCC got Petrich to third with two outs, but she was left stranded when Hanna grounded out to shortstop.
In the eighth, Lakers pitcher Rice singled and scored on a double from Tara Smith that bounded into the left-field corner. Smith moved to third on a sacrifice bunt, but was tagged out in a rundown between third and home when Ashley Canup hit into a fielder's choice.
"We still have that one inning where we throw the ball around, or that ball is hit into the corner and we don't hit the cutoff person," Mackin said. "We did a nice job with the rundown, which is something we don't work on a lot, but they completed the play on instinct."
In the bottom of the eighth, Hayley Ridout belted a double down the right-field line, and pinch-runner Kelsey Forrest moved to third on a single from Owen. Petrich followed with a base hit that scored Forrest, Vickaryous hit into a fielder's choice that erased Petrich at second, and Hanna hit a blooper to center that scored Amber Dimmel, who was running for Owen.
LCC tallied 16 hits and left seven baserunners stranded, including five in scoring position. Petrich and Ridout each had four hits including a double, Hanna had three hits and Vickaryous two. Trochim scattered seven hits, struck out five and walked two in the victory.
LCC visits Clark for a doubleheader Saturday.
Past Month's Most Commented Stories