They say a win is a win is a win, but you’d never know it from Taft High softball Coach Sandy Stuart despite her team’s 5-4 extra-inning league home victory Tuesday over Santiam Christian.
“Tonight was a rough game for us,” she said. “We did not come out with the enthusiasm and the offense that we started the season off with.”
The Lady Tigers did emerge with the victory, however, on the strength of sophomore starting pitcher Emma Coulter’s leadoff hit in the bottom of the ninth inning that landed her on third base. Junior outfielder Caitlyn Rundstrom then slapped a hit out of the infield to score Coulter for a West Valley League victory that returned the Lady Tigers to the top of the state’s Class 3A rankings.
“Overall, I was a little disappointed in our lack of effort and drive today,” said Stuart, whose team improved to 8-5 and 2-0 in league play. “We have been working so hard in practice on relaxed offense, and I don’t feel like the competitive team we have had showed up tonight.”
Senior third baseman Naomi Rini had four hits, drove home two runs and scored twice in five plate appearances for Taft.
Senior centerfielder Alyssa Tanksley, sophomore catcher Hailee Dannecker, freshman shortstop Claira Tolan and Coulter had two hits each for Taft.
Tanksley and Rundstrom also drove home runs for the Tigers, while Tolan and freshman second baseman Kayla Lininger also scored for the Tigers.
“We were timid and nervous and got down on ourselves after a couple of costly mistakes,” Stuart said as Taft fell behind 4-1 in the top of the sixth against the 25th-rated Eagles (3-4, 2-2) before rallying for three runs to tie the game in the bottom of the inning.
Coulter struck out 11 and walked two in earning the victory.
“I am happy that we pushed through to the end and came back from being down to win, and I am happy that Emma was able to throw hard all nine innings,” Stuart said. “But I am frustrated that we did not play our game. We are a playoff-caliber team that had a bit of an off day. We will learn from it and move on to the next.”
Taft is scheduled to travel to Willamina (2-12, 0-3) for league play at 4:30 p.m. Friday and to Pleasant Hill (2-10, 0-3 Class 3A Mountain View) for non-conference action at 1 p.m. Saturday.
Taft 5, Santiam Christian 4
SANTIAM CHRISTIAN AB R H BI
A Atkins 4 0 2 0
J Risinger 4 2 2 0
S Carley 5 1 1 0
I Montoya 4 0 2 2
K Boruff 4 1 1 0
L Penner 3 0 0 0
S Roberts 4 0 1 0
C Wilfong 4 0 0 0
A Lee 4 0 0 0
TOTALS 36 4 9 2
TAFT AB R H BI
Kyla Knott 2 0 0 0
Makena Cole 3 0 0 0
Naomi Rini 5 2 4 2
Hailee Dannecker 4 0 2 0
Emma Coulter 5 1 2 0
Alyssa Tanksley 5 0 2 1
Caitlyn Rundstrom 3 0 1 1
McKenzie Evenson 2 0 0 0
Kayla Lininger 2 1 0 0
Claira Tolan 4 1 2 0
Madison Clanton 4 0 0 0
TOTALS 39 5 13 4
SANTIAM CHRISTIAN 102 001 000 — 4
TAFT 100 003 001 — 5
LOB–SANTIAM CHRISTIAN 8, TAFT TIGERS 12. ERR–C Wilfong (2), A Atkins, I Montoya, Hailee Dannecker (2). 2B—J Risinger, A Atkins, S Carley, Naomi Rini (3). HBP–Hailee Dannecker. SACB–L Penner, Kayla Lininger.
SANTIAM CHRISTIAN IP H R ER BB SO HR
K Boruff 8.33 13 5 4 1 7 0
TAFT
Emma Coulter 9.00 9 4 2 2 11 0
PB–J Risinger (2), Hailee Dannecker (3). WP–Emma Coulter. BB—J Risinger, A Atkins, Kayla Lininger.
Santiam Christian softball roster/schedule
