ORANGE, Calif. - Playing their final two of eight games in California, the Puget Sound Loggers ended the week on a high note, earning a 4-1 win over La Sierra on Friday at the Sun West Tournament in Orange, Calif.  In their first game of the game, the Loggers fell to St. Mary's (Minn.), 15-8. 

The opening game with St. Mary's started out quietly as neither team plated a run in the first two innings.  SMU opened up the scoring in the top of the third, earning one run on two hits.  After a scoreless bottom of the third for the Loggers, the Cardinals blew the game open in the top of the fourth, scoring seven runs on nine hits to take an 8-0 lead.

The Loggers got on the board in the bottom of the fourth inning on a two run home run by Brian Huber (Chico, Calif.) and one more on a sacrifice fly by Katy Appleby (Westminster, Colo./Standley Lake) as the Loggers tightened the gap to 8-3.  

St. Mary's added another run in the fifth but an Appleby RBI single followed by a three RBI bases-clearing double by Megan Janes (Littleton, Colo./Arapahoe) got the Loggers back within two runs, 9-7 heading into the final inning.  The Cardinals responded in grand fashion, scoring six runs in their final at-bat to take a 15-7 lead and Puget Sound was only able to score once as they fell in the high-scoring affair, 15-8.

In their final game of the tournament, the Loggers came out ready to end the week with a win as they earned a pair of runs in the top of the first to take a 2-0 lead.  La Sierra got back within on with an RBI double in the bottom of the sixth but a two-run home run by Aryn Grause (Corvallis, Ore./Crescent Valley) put the dagger in the coffin as the Loggers earned the 4-1 victory.

Auriel Sperberg (Spanaway, Wash./Graham-Kapowsin) picked up the win, allowing just one run on five hits with 13 strikeouts to collect the complete game.  

The Loggers return to Northwest Conference next weekend when they travel down to Oregon for a pair at Pacific on Mar. 27 and then two more at Linfield on Mar. 28.