MONTESANO — Since reclassification in 2007 the Loggers had never swept SWW 1A League Evergreen Division softball powerhouse Montesano — but all that changed here on Thursday.
Regan Givens blasted a 3-run game winning homer in the sixth inning of the nightcap to give Onalaska a 9-8 win and the twinbill sweep.
Solid pitching from Sarah Barnes earned the Loggers a 5-1 win in the opener and coach Bill Barnes couldn’t be happier with the outcome.
“I’m real proud of the girls,” said Barnes. “They just came out and played hard and never gave up.
“They’re just so competitive in whatever they do and they don’t take losing as an option,” he added.
Montesano jumped out to a early 1-run advantage after the first frame of Game 1, but the Loggers responded by posting a combined 5 runs in the fourth and fifth innings.
“That’s one thing we haven’t experienced this year, is being behind in a game,” said Barnes. “I think it was good for us.”
Amy Working nailed a 3-run double in the fifth to put Ony up for good.
“It was one of those situations we needed her to come up big,” said Barnes. “We needed to manufacture a run somehow and she ended up just blasting one to center field. It was huge for us.”
In Game 2 the Loggers took advantage of Montesano’s short porch in left field, slugging three home runs over the 170-foot fence in a 9-8 win.
Down 6-2 in the fifth inning, Kalie Ritchey notched her first career homer to make it a 6-3 game, and Barnes followed with a 2-run dinger to make it a 6-4 game.
Montesano tacked on 2 more runs in the top of the sixth, but Regan Givens went yard to give the Loggers a 1-run advantage.
“Regan has just done a phenomenal job with her bat this year,” said Barnes. “(Her home run) was just clutch. When the ball was struck I knew it was gone. No question about it.”
The Bulldogs began to mount a one-out rally in the top of the seventh, when Logger third baseman Autumn Durand jumped up and snagged hard-hit liner and fired the ball to first base to double up the runner and end the game.
“It was great to sweep Montesano, because we had really taken our abuse over the years from them,” said Barnes, whose team remains undefeated and sit atop the league standings.
Onalaska (12-0, 10-0) will host Toutle Lake on Monday in a nonleague game.
