Lexi McCrory makes an out at first against La Pine. GINI DAVIS – THE CRESWELL CHRONICLE
Trailing 4-6 heading into the fifth inning in a game plagued with interior defense errors, the Lady Dawgs were at risk of losing their league opener against visiting La Pine on April 3.
Creswell went into the sixth down 5-6; after the Hawks’ at-bat, Creswell was down 5-8 but scored three to tie it. The Lady Dawgs held the Hawks scoreless in the seventh, and the game came down to Creswell’s final at-bat. With two outs, Hallie Drago slammed a deep triple to center field, Aubrie Hatch was hit by pitch, Morgan Janshen received an intentional walk to load the bases, and Destiney Black’s line drive down the left field line scored Drago for the walk-off run.
”We had quite the exciting game; it was a good start to our league season,” Coach Brett Giles said of the 9-8 win. ”Errors on routine plays made this closer than it needed to be – credit to La Pine for capitalizing on our miscues and putting pressure on our fielders. But we also made a number of real good plays to minimize the damage.”
The Lady Dawgs also redeemed defense with offense, smacking 14 hits including three triples and two doubles. ”Their pitcher had good velocity and movement, but we were able to hit her real well,” Giles said.
And once on base, ”We were aggressive on the base paths, and that helped put us in a position for success,” Giles said, commending his team’s ”resilience” in recovering from mistakes and ”not carrying our miscues over to our batting.”
Kelsey Kuhnhausen went 3-for-3 with a triple and a double, four RBIs and two runs. Drago went 4-for-5, including a triple, with two RBIs and a run. Hatch was 1-for-3 with a triple and a run; Lexi McCrory was 1-for-3 with a double and two runs; and Janshen was 2-for-3 with an RBI.
From the pitcher’s circle, Black gave up eight runs (two earned) on seven hits – including a triple – struck out seven and walked two.
The Lady Dawgs also traveled to Coquille on April 4, falling 4-6.
In a 0-3 hole early after some defensive bobbles, the Lady Dawgs got on the board in the third, when Drago came home on Black’s RBI double, but were still down 1-6 heading into the sixth, when Black powered Creswell’s first home run of the year – a solo that ”cleared the center field fence with a lot of room to spare,” Giles said.
Creswell scored two more in the seventh but couldn’t quite close the gap.
Black went 3-for-4 including her homer and a double, had three RBIs and scored. Drago went 3-for-4 and scored twice. Hatch went 2-for-4 with a double.
Pitching, Black gave up six runs (three earned) on seven hits, struck out five and walked five.
”We put ourselves in position to win but just came up a little short,” Giles said.
