CLACKAMAS, Ore. - Wrapping up action at the Northwest Cup, the
Puget Sound Loggers fell twice to a pair of tough teams, falling to
Oregon Tech, 11-3, before dropping a close one to British Columbia,
3-0, on Sunday in Clackamas, Ore.
The Loggers were up early for their first game of the day as
first pitch officially occurred at 8:55 a.m. After Oregon
Tech scored the game's first run in the bottom of the second, the
Loggers tied it up when Aryn Grause (Corvallis, Ore./Crescent
Valley) reached on a fielder's choice that allowed Alex Usher
(Carson, Wash./Stevenson) to score.
The Loggers took the lead during the next at-bat as Grause drew
the throw while advancing to second allowing Amelia
Kurashige-Elliott (Berkeley, Calif.) to score from third. The
Loggers' final run came on an RBI single by Christina Demuelenaere
(Lake Stevens, Wash./Edmonds CC) that allowed Grause to score as
the Loggers held a 3-1 lead through two and a half inning.
The lead didn't last long as the Owls took advantage of a pair
of Logger errors to put three runs on the board and then exploded
for seven runs on five hits and one UPS error in the bottom of the
fourth to pull ahead by either. Puget Sound couldn't get a
run across in the top of the fifth as OIT collected the 11-3
victory in five innings. Junior Auriel Sperberg (Spanaway,
Wash./Graham-Kapowsin) took the loss for Puget Sound, allowing 11
runs, just two of them earned, on nine hits in three and two-third
innings pitched.
In the second game, British Columbia struck first, scoring a
lone run in the top of the first inning and the Loggers just
weren't able to get a run across. The Thunderbirds added two
more runs in the top of the fifth and the two defenses would take
over the rest of the way as UBC was held hitless the rest of the
way while the Loggers put up two more hits in the bottom of the
seventh but were unable to get on the board as UBC took the 3-0
win.
Grause took the loss from the Loggers, allowing three runs on
five hits in four and two-thirds innings pitched. Sperberg
had a strong performance in relief, pitching two and one-third
innings of no-hit ball.
The Loggers will have next weekend off before opening up the
Northwest Conference season on March 6 when they play host to
Willamette.
