Payette’s Blackwell leads the way in win
By ARGUS OBSERVER SPORTS STAFF
Wednesday, April 18, 2007 1:02 PM PDT
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| Payette’s Shelbi King hustles home in the second inning of the Pirates’ Snake River Valley Conference softball game against Weiser Tuesday in Payette. |
PAYETTE - Hannah Peterson and Calee White each had two hits and Melissa Blackwell tossed a complete game shutout to lead Payette to the 11-0 win over Weiser in Snake River Valley Conference softball action Tuesday in Payette.
The Pirates put the game away with an eight-run second inning, and added three more in the third to put the mercy rule into effect.
In the second inning, Payette sent 13 batters to the plate and pounded six hits, and Weiser committed two errors.
White started off the inning with a single and capped the scoring with an RBI groundout that drove in Blackwell, which capped the inning’s scoring.
Six different Payette players drove in runs, and Peterson, White and Aubrianne Iwasa chalked up two RBIs apiece.
All the offense was plenty for Blackwell (9-3), who allowed two hits and struck out seven in her five innings of work.
“We came right out and hit the ball,” Payette head coach Duane Higley said. “We had a good outing at the plate for us, and we had real solid defensive play. The girls stepped up.”
Payette (13-4 overall, 4-0 SRV) next host Parma Thursday.
Mac-Hi 5, 6,
Ontario 4, 7
One bad call separated the Ontario softball team from a sweep of sixth-ranked Mac-Hi Tuesday in Milton-Freewater.
After a controversial call robbed the Tigers of an opening game win, which they lost 5-4, Ontario responded with a dramatic come-from-behind 7-6 win over the Pioneers in the nightcap.
In the opener, Ontario pitcher Jordan Rowan uncorked a wild pitch and catcher Jordan Barnett retrieved the ball and tagged Mac-Hi’s Amber Knight.
Knight was called safe, the Ontario bench went berserk and the Pioneers escaped with the 5-4 win.
The Tigers jumped out to a 2-0 lead and held the 4-1 lead in the top of the fifth inning before Mac-Hi crept to within 4-3 with two runs in the bottom of the fifth.
The score stayed 4-3 until the bottom of the seventh when the Pioneers tallied the game-winning runs.
In the nightcap, the Tigers came out with a purpose, as they pounded out 13 hits and scored two runs in the top of the seventh inning to come away with the 7-6 win.
The two runs came courtesy of a double by Ashley Moeller, with one out in the inning.
With one out, Francene Hussey started things off with a single, and Kara Saito followed her up with another single to put runners on first and second. Kim Boyd then followed with a perfectly-executed sacrifice bunt to put runners on second and third to set up Moeller’s dramatics.
Rowan then retired the side in order to pick up the win.
Hussey went 3-for-4 and teammates Allison Yano, Sarah Wharton, Saito and Rowan chipped in two hits apiece.
Rowan tossed seven innings and struck out three to earn her fourth win of the season.
“I think they felt like they had something taken away from them,” Ontario head coach David Hopper said. “They were mad, but they came out and didn’t give up. It says a lot about them (to come back from adversity).”
Ontario (8-7 overall, 2-2 GOL) next hosts Baker Friday.
Melba 12,
New Plymouth 1
A tie for first place was on the line for the New Plymouth softball team, but the Pilgrims could not overcome Cara Duckworth’s arm and five errors in its 12-1 loss in Melba Tuesday.
Things started out well for the Pilgrims, who took an early 1-0 lead in the first inning. Macee Cole reached base and later scored on a RBI single by Shianne Edmunson. That was the offense New Plymouth could bring as they could only muster two hits the rest of the way.
The Mustangs broke the game open with five runs in the bottom of the second inning and added another five in the third to take a 10-1 lead.
Duckworth handled the rest as she tossed five innings and struck out eight.
Alisha Shipman, Maddie Cutts and Edmunson were the only New Plymouth players to notch hits.
Whitney Hodges (7-4) suffered the loss — she went two innings and walked five before giving way to reliever Brandi Barker.
Hodges and Barker handled the meat of the Melba order, but the bottom part of the lineup came through in the clutch as they tallied 10 runs.
New Plymouth (9-7 overall, 2-2 WIC) next hosts Nampa Christian Thursday.
ARGUS OBSERVER SPORTS STAFF
NAMPA
The Nyssa softball team could have breezed to an easy win against Nampa Christian Tuesday, but the rain came and washed the game away.
The Bulldogs scored three runs in the frst inning and added another three in the second inning before the umpires caled the game due to bad weather.
Tiffany Wentz had a single, a walk and scored two runs, while teammate Alisha Hittle chipped in a double and an RBI. Nyssa also saw the comeback of Laura Hashaden, who hit a double and scored a run.
“It was a great start to the week,” Nyssa head coach Tracy Cleaver said. “Although we didn’t finish the game, today gave us a chance to get some intentiy with our bats.”
The game will be rescheduled and Nyssa (4-9 overall, 0-2 EOL) next travels to John Day Saturday.
