BELFAIR — The Port Angeles softball team is crushing teams it should beat as one of the top softball squads in the state.
Probably more importantly, the Roughriders are also winning hard-fought close games. The Riders won their third game of the year Monday by either one run or in the seventh inning with a 6-4 come-from-behind victory over North Mason, getting a pair of big two-out hits in the seventh to pull out the win.
The Riders were behind or tied most of the game against an underrated team that came in to Monday’s game 6-3 overall with two league losses against powerhouses North Kitsap and Olympic.
After Port Angeles finally gained the lead with a run in the fifth inning, the Bulldogs scored a run in the bottom of the sixth to tie the game at 4-4.
The Riders’ Abby Kimball led off the top of the seventh with a double, but the Bulldogs got two outs as Kimball remained at second.
Down to the Riders’ final out, Mikkiah Stevens came through in the clutch with a base hit to score Kimball, giving the Riders a 5-4 lead. Ava-Anne Sheahan followed with a double to score Stevens to give the Riders an insurance run.
The Bulldogs were then three-up, three-down in the bottom of the seventh against Port Angeles pitcher Heidi Leitz, who got two strikeouts in the inning.
Morgan Politika was 3-for-4 with two stolen bases, while Sheahan finished 2-for-4 with a double, a run scored and an RBI.
Mariah Traband was 2-for-4 with a triple and a run scored, while Kennedy Rognilien was 2-for-4 with a double.
Lynzee Reid was 2-for-4, while Leitz and Kimball each had a double and an RBI. Stevens drove in two runs.
In the circle, Leitz picked up the victory, going 4⅔ innings and striking out 11. She allowed three hits and one earned run. Reid started the game, going 2⅓, allowing three hits and two earned runs. She struck out two.
Port Angeles (7-0, 10-1-1, No. 5 Ratings Percentage Index) next hosts Bainbridge (0-7, 0-7) at 4:15 p.m. Thursday at Dry Creek Elementary School.
Port Angeles 6, North Mason 4
PA 0 0 2 1 1 0 2 — 6 14 1
NM 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 — 4 6 2
Pitching
PA — Reid 2.1 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 2 K; Leitz 4.2 IP, 3 H, ER, 11 K.
Hitting
PA — Politika 3-4, 2 SB; Reid 2-4; Sheahan 2-4, 2B, R, RBI; Rognlien 2-4, 2B; Leitz 1-4, 2B, RBI; Kimball 1-4, 2B, RBI; Stevens 1-4, R, 2 RBI; Travand 2-4, 3B, R.
Kingston 24, Sequim 5
KINGSTON — The Sequim softball team collected seven hits against Kingston, but struggled to keep the Buccaneers from scoring in a 24-5 loss.
Mia Kirner was 2-for-3 with a double, a run scored and an RBI, while Rylin Whitehead was 2-for-3 with a run scored and an RBI. Seren McClurken had a hit, a run scored, a walk and two RBIs.
Sequim (1-5, 2-7) plays at North Mason (1-3, 6-4) today.
Kingston 24, Sequim 5
K’ston 8 2 4 1 0 x x — 24 16 0
Seq. 0 2 0 0 3 x x — 5 7 2
Hitting
Sequim — Kirner 2-3, 2B, R, RBI; Whitehead 2-3, R, RBI; McClurken 1-1, R, 2 RBI, BB.
Pitching
Sequim — Whitehead 3 IP, 15 H, 14 ER, K; Giddings 3 ER; Green 2 IP, H, 3 ER, 3 K.
Baseball Quilcene 7, Darrington 5
DARRINGTON — The Quilcene baseball team improved to 8-0 on the year, getting a near no-hitter from Eli Allen, who struck out 14 batters in six innings.
Allen and Aiden Cate, who earned the save, combined to allow just one hit and no earned runs. The Rangers made four errors, allowing all five of Darrington’s runs to come in unearned.
Allen already has two no-hitters this season. He has struck out an astounding 63 batters in just 27 innings.
At the plate, Allen did much of the damage, going 3-for-4 with a run scored and four stolen bases. Logan Carstensen was 3-for-4 with two runs scored. Jayden Minish was 2-for-3 with three stolen bases, two runs scored and an RBI, while Robert Evans had a hit, a sac fly, two RBIs and a run scored. Jacob Tirao had a double, a run scored and two RBIs.
Quilcene 7, Darrington 5
Quil. 1 1 0 1 0 4 0 — 7 10 4
D’ton 0 0 0 3 0 0 2 — 5 1 4
Pitching
Quilcene — Allen 6 IP, H, 14 K; Cate IP, 2 K.
Hitting
Quilcene — Allen 3-4, R, 4 SB; Carstensen 3-4, 2 R; Minish 2-3, 2 R, RBI, 3 SB; Evans 1-1, R, 2 RBI, SF; Tirao 1-3, 2B, R, 2 RBI.
