Napavine holds off Adna for rivalry win

Ignited by timely offense early and overcoming errors late, the Tigers fended off their arch rival Pirates 7-4 in a C2BL season-opening contest in Napavine on Wednesday night.

Two runs apiece in the first two bottom-half innings gave Napavine (1-0, 1-0 C2BL) an early 4-0 advantage, then another run in the fifth bumped it up to five.

Adna (0-1, 0-1) pieced together a four-run outburst in the top of the sixth to cut the deficit to one run. It only notched two hits all night and plated its runs on an error, wild pitch and sacrifice fly.

Napavine added two key insurance runs in the sixth on a sacrifice fly and stealing home plate. The Pirates went down 1-2-3 in the seventh to end any type of rally.

“Our pitchers, with the exception of one inning, did a really nice job of throwing strikes,” Napavaine head coach Brian Demarest said. “It is a work in progress, but I was happy with the way we competed.”

Connor Holmes recorded two hits for the Tigers with an RBI while Jack Nelson drove in two runs. Their 4-through-8 hitters in the lineup combined for four hits and three runs batted in. Ashton Demarest earned the win on the mound, allowing just one earned run in five innings with four strikeouts.