Junior pitcher Emma Coulter scattered four hits and struck out 14 while going the distance Thursday to lead the Taft High softball team to an 8-3 nonleague home win over Yamhill-Carlton.
The Tigers scored seven runs in the bottom of the fourth inning after Yamhill-Carlton, also nicknamed the Tigers, took a 1-0 lead in the third.
“Today’s game was good for us offensively,” Taft coach Sandy Stuart said. “We started a little bit slow, but we were aggressive at the plate and put the bat on the ball a lot. We had one inning where we got very pumped up and capitalized on some errors to surge ahead.”
Freshman Addie Gates and sophomore Kyla Knott joined Coulter, who had a pair of doubles and two RBIs, with two hits each for Taft.
Junior catcher Hailee Danneker and freshman Chlose Peterson drove home runs for Taft, while Kayla Lininger scored twice and sophomore Makena Cole, sophomore Claira Tolan, Danneker, Peterson, Gates, Coulter and her freshman sister, Olivia, scored once each.
“Defensively, we are a still young and still learning our spots,” Stuart said. “We only have a few girls who are playing in positions they have in the past, and they are getting more and more confident with each practice and each game. We need to work on our communication skills on the field and just get more confidence.”
Coulter struck out two Yamhill-Carlton (0-3) hitters three times each and two others twice in averaging two strikeouts per inning. She walked just three.
Taft, which returns to action Monday against Cascade Christian in a spring break tournament in Medford, improved to 2-1.
“Now we are going to hit the road to spend some quality time together and play four games in two days next week to prepare for league play,” Stuart said.
Taft 8, Yamhill-Carlton 3 YAMHILL CARLTON AB R H BI TAFT AB R H BI K Slater 1 0 0 1 Kyla Knott 4 0 2 0 C Kern 4 0 0 0 Addie Gates 3 1 2 0 J Rivas 3 1 0 0 Hailee Danneker 4 1 1 1 J Sibert 4 0 1 0 Emma Coulter 4 1 2 2 L Luttrell 3 0 1 0 Claira Tolan 3 1 0 0 K Nagode 2 0 0 0 Kayla Lininger 3 2 1 0 A Barnett 3 0 0 0 Olivia Coulter 3 1 0 0 J Lee 3 0 0 0 Makena Cole 2 1 0 0 M Bell 3 2 2 0 Chloe Peterson 3 0 0 1 TOTALS 26 3 4 1 TOTALS 29 8 8 4 YAMHILL CARLTON 001 001 1 -- 3 TAFT 000 710 x -- 8 LOB--Yamhill-Carlton 7, Taft 7. E--K Slater, K Nagode, Addie Gates, Kayla Lininger, Claira Tolan. 2B--J Sibert, Hailee Danneker, Emma Coulter (2). 3B--M Bell. SACF--K Slater. SACB--K Slater. SB--J Rivas, M Bell. YAMHILL CARLTON IP H R ER BB SO HR K Nagode 6.00 8 8 1 4 3 0 TAFT Emma Coulter 7.00 4 3 1 3 14 0 PB--L Luttrell (2). WP--K Nagode (3). SO--J Rivas (2), J Lee (3), J Sibert, C Kern (2), A Barnett (3), K Slater, K Nagode, L Luttrell, Kyla Knott, Kayla Lininger, Chloe Peterson. BB--J Rivas, K Slater, K Nagode, Addie Gates, Kayla Lininger, Makena Cole, Claira Tolan.
