By Jeremy McDonald

jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com

SALEM, Ore.–  There were some ups-and-downs in Blanchet’s 13-5 win over Monroe Wednesday afternoon.  Being their first game in two weeks, there was some rust.  Something that they worked through thanks in part to them jumping out to an 11-2 lead going into the fourth inning as they turned to their bats to start.  Creating three Dragon errors on five hits and drawing six walks to help give the Cavaliers a sizable lead to work with entering the second half of the game.

“When we start off strong, we do well.  We were relying on each other, getting the bats down, fielding and throwing well,”  Ellie Martin-Lanzer said. 

The first five hits, out of a total of eight, included a solo home run by Regan Rassmussen to start the bottom half of the first inning as the sophomore struck out 12 in the victory.  The squad’s second as they battled through the fatigue to finish the game as they saw Monroe pull back to within six of Blanchet going into the bottom half of the fifth.  The Cavs plated two more in the bottom half of the inning, off a Martin-Lanzer double, that rebooted confidence for the squad over the final inning-and-a-half.

Martin-Lanzer and Zoe Moore each had two hits and drove in 3RBI’s with Blanchet turning-and-burning for a pair of games at Culver Thursday.

“It was really nice to see everyone persevere and work together as a team.  We really wanted to be there for each other and get the win, and to see everyone working hard and communicating and supporting each other was really cool,” Rasmussen said.  “This game really puts a lot of confidence in everybody like, ‘ok, I can hit…I can get a good hit’ and the fielding part too.”

Maddison Hull came in for relief for Amelia Ellsworth in the second inning and slowed the Blanchet offense down over her four-and-a-third innings pitched, striking out six and also had two hits at the plate for Monroe.  The Dragons will host Gervais on Friday at 4:30pm.

Photos By Jeremy McDonald