YREKA – The Yreka Lady Miners finished fourth in their own tournament, this weekend, beating Etna and Fall River, and losing to Hidden Valley and Corning.

Yreka won their first round match up with the Etna Lady Lions 7-3. Etna scored a run in the first inning, when Ashley Parry doubled and then scored on an error. The Lady Lions had the bases loaded when Elli Pynes popped out to shallow right field. Nicole Luiz tagged and went home. The throw beat her to the plate, but Luiz slid under the tag and between the legs of the catcher for what was an apparent run. The home plate umpire saw otherwise and called her out. The double play and a subsequent fly out quashed the Lions’ threat of a big first inning.

Etna’s Paige Finley struck out the first two Yreka batters and the Lady Miners went down in order in the bottom of the first inning, with the Lions leading 1-0.

Etna failed to score in the top of the second, but Yreka was able to even the game in their half of the inning. Ashlie Smith led off with a single. Smith stole second, stole third, and scored on a throwing error to third base. The next three batters flied out, and the game was tied 1-1.

Etna did not score in the third. Marissa Allen led off the bottom of the inning with a walk for Yreka. Allen stole second, and then scored on a Kaitlin Weckerle single, to give Yreka the lead 2-1.

Pynes led off the fourth inning for Etna with a solid double, but the Lady Lions could not advance her past third base. In Yreka’s fourth, Smith led off with a walk and scored on an error. Robin Lemos singled and scored on an Allen base hit, and the Lady Miners led 4-1. Yreka went on to win 7-3 in seven innings.

Smith led the Lady Miners at the plate, going 1/3, with three runs, and a walk. Lemos was also 1/3, with two runs and a triple. Sara Jones went 1/3, with a run and a walk. Kayla Graves was the starting and winning pitcher for Yreka, going four innings (1ER, 4H, BB, 3K). Lemos pitched two innings in relief (2ER, 2H, 2BB, 8K).

In round two, Yreka fell to Hidden Valley 5-0. HV scored two runs in the first inning, one in the fourth, and two more in the fifth inning. Yreka had only two hits in the game. Smith went 1/2, and Weckerle went 1/3. Lemos got the start on the hill and took the loss (5IP, 5ER, 4H, 2BB, 7K).

Yreka rebounded on Saturday morning against Fall River, winning 6-2. Yreka led 4-1 after one inning. The Lady Miners added single runs in the fourth and fifth innings, and Fall River scored a run in the seventh, to make the final 6-2.

Smith went 2/3 from the plate, with two runs, and an RBI. Jones was 2/3, with a run and an RBI. Lemos went 1/2, stole a pair of bases, scored a run, and had an RBI. Weckerle was 2/4, with two swipes and a run. Graves was the starting and winning pitcher (4IP, ER, 3H, 6K). Lemos pitched the final two innings (ER, 2H, 6K).

The Lady Miners bid to reach the championship game via the loser’s bracket was cut short by Corning 7-6. The game was tied 2-2 after one inning and 4-4 after two innings. Corning took the lead 6-4 in the fourth inning, but Yreka came back to tie it with a pair of runs in the top of the seventh inning. Corning however, ended the comeback attempt with a run of their own in the bottom of the seventh, to make it a 7-6 win and eliminated Yreka from the tourney.

Loren Young was smoking hot at the plate, going 3/3, with two runs and two RBI, as well as three steals. Graves was 2/3 with a run. Marissa Allen was 1/2 with a run. Jones nailed a triple, scored a run and went 1/3. Alyssa Scala was 1/3 with a run. Lemos got the start and pitched one inning (2ER, H,) Graves came on in relief and took the loss (6IP, 5ER, 5H, BB, 2K).

Sara Jones, Amber Sinnott and Kayla Graves were named to the All-Tourney team.

Yreka is 4-3 on the season and will open Northern Athletic League play on April 1, at Corning, with the game scheduled to start at 4:00 pm.