Napavine Gets Short Side of Uneven DH Split

Posted

The Napavine girls softball team technically split its doubleheader against Toutle Lake on the road Thursday, losing 9-2 before winning 11-8. But with only the first counting to the Central 2B League standings, the Tigers came away feeling the worse off of the two sides, despite ending the day on a winning note.

Cailyn Milton went the distance in the circle for the Tigers in Game 1, taking the loss while having to work around some miscues behind her.

“She was throwing well enough to win, and we weren’t helping her out,” head coach Josh Fay said.

Toutle Lake landed an early knockout punch in the second inning, dropping a five-spot to make it 6-0, and it was 9-0 before Napavine got its offense moving at all.

“It’s the little stuff,” Fay said. “We have an error in the second inning, and we would have been out of the inning with a two-run inning instead of a five-run inning. Stuff like that, too much of it.”

Things went a whole lot better in the second game, with the Tigers belting out 19 hits as a team.

Over a quarter of those came off the bat of Avery Schutz, who smacked five singles and came around to score three runs. She finished her afternoon 7 for 7 at the plate.

“Avery Schutz had a really good day,” Fay said. “Just a real nice job of finding ways to get on base.”

Grace Pancake went 3 for 5 behind her, and Dani Tupuola provided the power in the cleanup spot with a single, a double, a homer, and seven RBIs.

At the bottom of the order, Brianna Lara showed off some pop of her own with a double and a triple.

“Two really nice hits,” Fay said. “She squared the ball up, and that was great to see.”

Napavine will get the weekend off, then host Raymond-South Bend on Tuesday.