By Jeremy McDonald

jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com

DAYTON, Ore.—The Yamhill-Carlton Softball set the tone in the opening three innings of their 15-4 win.  Thanks to four Dayton errors along ten hits to build themselves a 10-0 lead going into the bottom of the third inning to open PacWest Conference play Tuesday afternoon.

“We definitely started off the game strongly with the high lead, we’ve done that in the majority amount of our games.  Mainly it’s got to do with our bats, defensively I thought we did ok, we had a few errors,” the Tigers Briley Ingram said of the start.

Outside of a few games, two games in California and their 3-2 win over Cascade on April 1, the Yamhill-Carlton offense hasn’t produced less than nine runs in a single game.  Cracking the double-figures for just the sixth time in eleven games.

Kati Slater was 3-for-4 with 2RBI’s, leading the team in hits while Cecelia Petraitis led the game and the Tigers with 4RBI’s in the squad’s ninth win of the season.  Petraitis had the lone extra base hit with a first inning double.

Ingram kept Dayton at bay, striking out eight in five innings of the weather shortened game in Dayton.  There were spurts in which the Pirates looked good.

A three-run third inning brought Dayton back within seven going into the fourth inning with a RBI doubles from Anna Baumholtz (RBI double) and Brin Shilhanek (2RBI double).  Shilhanek and the Pirate defense held YC scoreless in the fourth but couldn’t cut into the lead further as the Tigers pushed their lead back to ten soon after.

“It’s hard, but no matter what we’re going to fight, even if the game’s 25-0.  We just got to have more great innings like that,” Dayton’s Kya Lindell said of the bottom third and top of the fourth inning.

Lindell was the lone Pirate to have a multi-hit game as the freshman went 2-for-2 and struck out one in two-and-a-third innings.

Dayton cut the 13-3 deficit to 13-5 when two runs scored off a Jaeden Oliveira single in the fifth inning before the hail arrived that stopped the game in the sixth inning with Yamhill-Carlton ahead by nine.

The Tigers travels to Willamina Wednesday before playing a doubleheader at Amity on Friday.  Dayton’s at Warrenton Thursday before hosting Kennedy Friday afternoon.

Photos By Jeremy McDonald