Wed 14 May 2008
YREKA – The Yreka Lady Miners advanced to the semi-finals of the NSCIF D-IV playoffs with a 6-4 round-one win over the Willows Honkers, on Tuesday. Yreka (15-14) will travel to Wheatland (14-13-1) to take on the second-seeded Lady Pirates, on Thursday, May 15. Wheatland beat
The Lady Miners got the offense working early, scoring two runs in the bottom of the first inning. Loren Young led off the game with a walk, stole second, and advanced to third on a Sara Jones ground out. With two outs, Ashlie Smith smacked a ball of the left-center field fence for an RBI double. Smith went to third on a passed ball. Amber Sinnott walked. Sinnott stole second base, and Smith went home on the throw to second.
Willows responded with a run in the top of the second. Brooke Hofhenke singled with two down. Kristin Acosta picked up an infield single, and Hofhenke moved to second. Lauren Guerra singled to drive in Hofhenke, cutting Yreka’s lead to 2-1.
The Lady Miners came right back and added to their lead in the bottom half of the inning. Stephanie Leyva singled to lead off, and continued to second base on the Willows’ center-fielder’s error. Adrianna Scala ran for Leyva. Tiffiny Berginger singled, and Scala moved to third base. Berginger stole second base. With one out, Young singled to drive in Scala, and went to second on the throw. Berginger moved to third base. Kaitlin Weckerle slap bunted for a single, to load the bases. A Jones single plated Berginger to make it 4-1. Young moved to third and Weckerle to second base. Smith hit a shallow fly ball to right-center filed that was caught by the Lady Pirate second baseman moving away from the diamond. Young tagged up and scored, to give Yreka a 5-1 lead after two full innings.
Neither squad scored in the third, fourth, or fifth innings. The offense showed up again in the top of the sixth for Willows. Courtney Perry reached on a throwing error by Yreka’s third baseman and wound up on second base. Perry advanced to third on a wild pitch, and scored when Bethanie Nishimura reached on an error by the Lady Miners’ shortstop, making the score 5-2
In Yreka’s half of the inning, sophomore Erica Pellizer launched a “pleaser” to deep center field, making it 6-2, after six innings.
With one down in the top of the seventh, the Lady Pirates started a comeback bid, when Guerra singled. Brittany Ramsey reached on an error by the pitcher, and Guerra moved to second. Michelle Schleef singled to drive in both runners, making it 6-4. A pop out and a strikeout ended the game, with the Lady Miners winning, 6-4.
Offensively for Yreka, Smith went 1-1, with a run, two RBI, a walk, a double, and a sacrifice. Young was 1-3, with two runs, an RBI, and a steal. Berginger went 1-2, with a run and a steal. Weckerle had two steals. Kayla Graves notched the complete game win (6IP, 4R, 7H, BB, 3K).
For the Honkers, Guerra scored a run, and knocked in a run, while going 2-3. Schleef went 1-3, with two RBI, and a walk. Hofhenke was 1-3, with a run. Meghan Meyers started and took the loss for Willows (6IP, 6R, 7H, 4BB, 6K). The sixth-seeded Honkers finished the season at 16-12.
