All of the day’s scoring in Tiger Town was limited to one frame Thursday, but the Napavine softball team’s fourth-inning rally was bigger than Onalaska’s, giving the hosts a 5-2 win in Central 2B League play.
After three scoreless innings to start the game, Onalaska took a lead in the top of the fourth on an RBI double by Kaiyah Sandridge, and doubled it when she came home on a wild pitch.
Then it was Napavine’s turn. Avery Schutz got it started with a single, and wheeled around to third when Hannah Fay reached on a bunt. After Fay singled, Dani Tupuola brought a run in with a groundout, and Caelyn Milton singled in Fay to tie things up.
Hayden Kaut tried to give herself up on a sacrifice bunt but ended up reaching on an error. After a strikeout, the Tigers made the Loggers pay for the misplay, bringing two runs in on steals and scoring another on an RBI single by Grace Gall.
“We did a nice job of putting the ball in play,” Napavine coach Josh Fay said. “Gall and Milton both squared some balls up. We bunted the ball a bit, and put the wheels in motion. It was a nice inning. I still think we’re capable of doing that more than one inning, but I’ll take it.”
Outside of the fourth, Milton and Onalaska’s Lisa Liddell were just about untouchable in the circle; Napavine managed just one hit in its other five trips to the plate, and the Loggers had four knocks outside the fourth.
Milton earned the win, striking out eight and not walking any batters in seven innings.
“Milton was solid,” Josh Fay said. “She was super efficient, worked out of a couple of things for us. The other big one for us was defensively we didn’t have any errors.”
On the other side, Liddell went the whole way for Onalaska, striking out 12 and walking just one.
“She changes speed really well,” Fay said. “I think she’s the best pitcher we’ve seen, outside of Montesano.”
Kaiyah Sandridge had two hits to lead the Loggers.
Onalaska is set to host Coupeville in a non-league doubleheader Saturday. Napavine will be off for the weekend before going to Morton for a doubleheader.
