By Nick Sinnott

The Siskiyou Heat U-18s were at it again in Junction City, OR at the Class B “Cooper the Dog” ASA Tournament, last Saturday and Sunday. Multiple games were played under the scorching sun.  It was a two day, double elimination tournament with two round robin games on Saturday for the Heat.

Saturday
Game-1: The first round robin game for the Siskiyou Heat was against Hood River, OR.  Kayla Graves started and the first three innings were 3-up and 3-down for both sides. In the third inning Hood River put together some hits, and an error by The Heat led to a three- run inning for Hood River. The offense was missing for The Heat and they could not get their bats on the ball.  Mindi Chandler came in to pitch the fourth and fifth innings allowing four more runs over. Final score: Hood River 7 – Heat 0

Game-2: The next game immediately following was against the Waldport Rogues.  The Waldport pitcher started with control problems and hit the first three batters to immediately load the bases. That’s all it took for The Heat to get things going. Kelsey Moser singled in the first run and Madison “Maddy” Moser scored on a passed ball. Amber “Nails” Sinnott sacrificed a run in and Sierra “C” Skeen completed the inning with a two run single. The remainder of the game was a pitching battle with neither team getting any runs, and starting pitcher Bethany Franklin notching the win.  Kayla Graves came in to finish the last two innings. Final score: Rogues 0 – Heat 5

Sunday
Game-3: As a result of the Pool Play on Saturday, the Siskiyou Heat drew the first game of the day at 8: 30 a.m.  Their opponent was Alliance from Bend OR. Bethany Franklin started and did a solid job. The Alliance scored a run in the bottom of the first when they put up a triple and a double back to back.  In the second, Alliance scored again but a good defensive play threw out a possible third run at home to keep it 2-0 after two innings.

It wasn’t until the fourth inning the Heat got on the board. Michelle Rupert, from Tulelake, who had a great day at the plate, singled past third base, Sarah Jones then followed with a single, and Lizzy Stone got an RBI single.  The Heat added another run in the sixth when Lauren Young singled and Rupert singled again to left. Sarah Jones then singled to load the bases.  Kelsey Moser then hit deep to left to score Young from third to tie it at 2-2.

After seven innings the International Tie Breaker Rule was in force (Each team starts the inning with a runner on second and play is continued until a team has more runs after a complete inning of play).  Lauren Young took second as The Heat base runner and it was all action after that. Rupert singled again to go 3/3 on the day and send Young to third. Young then scored on a passed ball. Rupert, who had advanced to third with some good base running scored on another passed ball.  Kelsey Moser then doubled and Amber Sinnott followed with her own double to score Moser.  Kayla Graves came in to finish the game at pitcher.  Alliance, started with a runner on second and managed to get one run. The Heat defense played well to stop the scoring. Final score: Alliance 3 – Heat 5

Game-4:  The next opponent was The Pride from Junction City. Coincidentally, it was the Pride the Heat beat just two weeks prior in the Junction City tournament Championship to take home first place.  Rob Moser wanting to rest Bethany Franklin, started Kayla Graves. At first things went The Heat’s way quickly. In the first inning, Michelle Rupert doubled and scored on a Sarah Jones single. Jones then scored on a Kelsey Moser triple and Adriana Scala scored Moser on a fielder’s choice. Amber Sinnott finished the inning with a triple to right but was left stranded on third. In the second it was more Heat.  Samantha “Sammy” Reed singled and Rupert got an RBI single to make it 4-0 Heat after two innings. The Pride bats came alive in the third and along with some rare defensive errors by the normally solid Heat defense scored six runs to take a 6-4 lead. The Pride scored six more in the sixth inning to finish. Final score: Pride 12 – Heat 4

Game-5:  The third game of the day was for third place against the Newport Cubs. Bethany Franklin started and finished with a strong performance. The first inning of the game was a demonstration of what The Heat batting order was capable of doing. Coming off the last game the bats were ready. Michele Rupert, batting in the number-2 spot, tripled to deep center. Sarah Jones smacked an RBI single and Kelsey Moser followed with a double that she tried to stretch to a triple and was thrown out . Mindi Chandler and Amber Sinnott both followed with triples to finish the inning. At the end of one inning, the Heat led 4-1.
In the fourth inning, Jones led off with a single and Moser tripled to score Jones.  Mindi Chandler reached second on a fielding error and Sinnott hit a ball deep to right for a sacrifice.  In the fifth inning, it was all Alysa “Super Star” Scala. Scala hammered a triple against the fence and scored on a passed ball to add another run for The Heat.  Newport tallied a run in the sixth, but The Heat came back with three more in the bottom of the sixth to finish. Final score: Cubs 4, Heat 11. This win resulted in a third place finish for The Heat.

Next Tournament: “Nationals” in Aurora, Oregon, Friday July 24 – to Sunday 26.