YREKA – It wasn’t easy and it was cold, but it was also exciting to watch, as the Yreka Lady Miners out scored the Anderson Lady Cubs, 12-11, on Tuesday.

With one out in the bottom of the first, Alyssa Scala reached on an error, and went to third, on a Sara Jones single. Then, Ashie Smith launched a no-doubter for a three-run Yreka lead. Brie Phillips and Amber Sinnott followed with singles. Stephanie Leyva drove home Phillips with a double, to give Y-Town a 4-0 lead after one inning.

Anderson answered quickly in the top of the second inning with a double and a dinger, to make the score 4-2. Yreka went down in order in the bottom half.

After Anderson was retired 1-2-3, in the third inning, Yreka racked up some more runs in their half of the inning. Jones led off with a single, and then went to third on Smith’s double. Philips drove in Jones with an infield hit, but Smith stayed at second after distracting the Lady Cub shortstop. Two batters later, Leyva walked, loading the bases. Smith scored when Tiffiny Berginger reached on a fielder’s choice, Leyva was out at second, and Phillips moved to third. Loren Young singled to score Phillips and give Yreka a 7-2 lead, after three innings.

Anderson’s lead off hitter in the top of the fourth inning ripped a home run to deep center field, and the Lady Cubs added two more runs in the inning via two hits, two walks, a wild pitch and an error. Yreka did not score in their half of the inning. After four full innings, it was Yreka 7-Anderson 5.

The Lady Cubs added another run in the top of the fifth to make it 7-6, but Yreka responded in a big way in the bottom half. Sinnott led off with a double, and went to third on Leyva’s single. Burginger bunted for a single, and the bases were jammed. Young reached on an error, and Sinnott scored to make it 8-6. Weckerle reached on a fielder’s choice and Kesha Betts, running for Leyva, was forced at home. Scala hit a sacrifice fly to right-field, scoring Berginger. Jones singled to score Young. Weckerle, who had advanced to third on the hit, scored on a wild pitch, giving the Lady Miners an 11-6 lead at the end of five innings.

Anderson failed to score in the sixth. Sinnott led off the bottom of the sixth for Yreka with a triple, and scored on a wild pitch to make it 12-6.

Anderson had scored four runs in the top of the seventh to narrow the margin to 12-10, when Yreka starter Kayla Graves was relieved by Smith. Smith inherited a runner on third base. Anderson scored one more run to make it 12-11, on a wild pitch, before Smith got the last out on a pop up to second base.

Smith led Yreka’s offense with a home run, two runs scored, three RBI, and a walk, while going 2-3. Leyva was 2-2, with a walk, a double, and two RBI. Jones went 2-3, with two runs, an RBI, and a walk. Sinnott had a double, a triple, and scored two runs, going 2-4. Phillips was 2-4, with two runs, and an RBI.

Graves picked up the win (6.2IP, 11ER, 13H, 2BB, 5K). Smith notched the save.

The Lady Miners are now 4-3 in the Northern Athletic League, and 12-13 overall. They travel to Lassen (4-2, 15-12) on Friday, May 2. Yreka came into the week tied for sixth in the NSCIF D-IV playoff rankings.