YREKA – The Hidden Valley Lady Mustangs may have come into their game against Yreka on Tuesday feeling a little frisky, after finishing second in last weekend’s Yreka tournament—including a 5-0 win over the Lady Miners. By the time it was over, the Mustangs were roped and corralled.

Kayla Graves got the start on the hill for the Lady Miners and struck out two of the first three batters she faced, as the Lady Mustangs went 1-2-3 in the opening frame. Kaitlin Weckerle led off with a walk in the bottom half of the inning, and then advanced to second on an Alyssa Scala sacrifice bunt. Weckerle stole third and scored, when Sara Jones grounded to second. Yreka led 1-0 after one inning.

The Mustangs first batter doubled in the top of the second, and scored on a single that went past the outfield, to tie the game 1-1. The outfield error led to the batter advancing to third base. The next batter laid down a bunt, which resulted in a Yreka error, and scored the runner from third, giving Hidden Valley the lead 2-1, at the end of an inning and a half.

Yreka’s first batter in the second inning grounded out. Then, Amber Sinnott hit an opposite field single. Sinnott advanced to second on a wild pitch, and stole third base. The next batter lined out to shortstop. Graves came to the plate with two down and Sinnott at third. Graves doubled into left field and Sinnott scored to tie the game 2-2. The next batter went down swinging to end the inning.

The Mustangs went down in order in the third, thanks in large part to a very good defensive play by Brie Phillips at second base. Phillips scooted to her left to knock down a hard hit ball, recovered and threw out the runner at first.

Weckerle led off the bottom of the third with a slap bunt single. She stole second, and advanced to third base on a wild pitch. The next Lady Miner went down looking, but Jones came through with a base hit for her second RBI of the game. At the end of three innings, Yreka led 3-2.

Neither team scored in the fourth or fifth innings. The Mustangs scratched out one run in a wild top of the sixth inning. Hidden Valley’s lead off hitter singled. Then, the runner on first attempted to steal, but on the play, the Mustang batter stepped all the way across the plate interfering with Yreka catcher Sinnott’s ability to throw to second. At first, the home plate umpire made no call, but the protests of the Yreka coaching staff got his attention and he called the batter out on the play. He allowed the runner to stay at second base. Further protests led to the umpire deciding that the runner was out, and the batter was allowed to continue the at bat, and eventually grounded out to second.

The next batter reached third base on a three base outfield error. With two outs, and a runner on third, Robin Lemos came in to relieve Graves on the mound. The runner on third scored on a wild pitch, to tie the game at 3-3. After a walk, the Mustangs grounded out to end the inning.

Smith led off the bottom of the sixth for the Lady Miners with a single. Then, Lemos singled and Smith moved to second. Sinnott reached on an error and the bases were loaded. The next Yreka batter popped out to third. Graves then hit a sacrifice fly to center field to score Smith from third on the tag up, and give the Lady Miners a 4-3 lead going into the final frame.

In the top of the seventh, with the count 2-1 on the Mustangs lead off batter, Smith relieved Lemos. The batter grounded out to second for the first out. The next Mustang singled, advanced to second on a ground out, and went to third on a wild pitch. Graves came back into pitch for Smith, and Hidden Valley doubled to drive in the runner from third, which tied it, at 4-4. The next batter grounded out to Scala at first base to end the inning.

Weckerle struck out to lead off for Yreka, but reached on a passed ball. Scala then reached on an error that also advanced Weckerle all the way to third base. The Mustangs then walked Jones to load the bases and set up a force out at any base. That left it up to Smith, who ripped a shot into left-center and scored Weckerle from third, for the game winner. The final was 5-4.

Weckerle went 2-3, with three runs, three steals, and a walk. Smith was 2-4, with a run, and the game-winning RBI. Graves went 1-2, with a double, and two RBI. Jones knocked in one, took a walk, and went 1-3.

Graves went 5 2/3 in her first pitching stint (3R, 4H, 5K). In her second appearance of the game, she didn’t get the save, but did get the win (1/3IP, H). Lemos went a third of an inning, walked one, and had a wild pitch. Smith pitched two thirds of an inning, giving up a run, a hit, and had a wild pitch.

Yreka is 5-3 this season.