By defeating Squalicum 10-8 Saturday afternoon, the Oak Harbor fastpitch softball team achieved something they haven’t done in quite some time; win back-to-back games.
“I can’t remember the last time,” head coach Denny Zylstra said. “It’s probably been two or three years.”
Tied 8-8 in the bottom of the sixth, a determined Wildcat team put together a late rally to pull ahead for good. Kristin Barone started the inning off by lining a single into center field. After a Libbie Bear walk and a sacrifice bunt by Liz Owens, the Cats were in business with two runners in scoring position and one out. Betina Corrales drilled a ball to the third baseman and with Barone leaving from third base on contact, she slid across home on a close play, giving the Cats a one run lead. Corrales tacked on another run later in the inning after scoring all the way from first on a throwing error by the Storm. She finished the day 2-for-3 with one RBI and three runs scored.
Crystal Degraaf came in to close the game for the Cats, defusing a one-out rally by Squalicum. After a walk and an error that allowed two runners to reach base, the catcher Barone picked off a runner attempting to steal third and Degraff struck out the last batter of the game.
“The girls played well,” Zylstra said. “They kept their heads in the game and made a few mistakes but they made up for them.”
Zylstra was also impressed by the play of some of his younger athletes. Junior varsity pitchers Kristin Ross and Kim Holland had strong showings in their first ever varsity competition.
“I got an opportunity to use both of them and both of them pitched very well,” Zylstra said.
Ross started the game for Oak Harbor, giving up three earned runs and striking out two over three innings. She also had a RBI single in her only at bat of the day. Holland received the win, after going three innings and giving up one earned run.
The one negative stat that jumped out on the day was the 10 errors for Oak Harbor.
“I can live with the physical part of making an error, it’s the mental mistakes that bug me,” Zylstra said.
Squalicum 3 1 2 0 1 1 0—8 6 3
Oak Harbor 0 3 5 0 0 2 x—10 10 10
(OH) Ross, Holland (3) Degraaf (6) and Barone, WP-Holland.
Arlington 5, Oak Harbor 4
The Wildcats just missed pushing their streak to three wins on Monday afternoon as they lost a close one, 5-4 to Arlington.
Freshman Ashley Kingma provided the Cats with a 4-3 lead in the bottom of the fifth inning with an RBI single, but the dreaded errors came back to bite Oak Harbor late in the game.
The Cats surrendered all five of their miscues in the last three innings, resulting in two crucial unearned runs for the Eagles.
“We played four perfect innings, Zylstra said. “We just fell apart in the end.”
Corrales had another nice offensive performance for Oak Harbor. She went 1-for-3 with a two-run double and also scored two runs Yolanda Garcia, Barone and Kingma all had two hits apiece.
Holland had another impressive outing, going the full seven innings and giving up only two earned runs.
“Kim really pitched well,” Zylstra said.
The loss drops the Cats to 1-2 in league play and 2-3 overall.
They will play their next game at 3:30 p.m., today, April 2 at Marysville-Pilchuck before playing their next game at 3:30 p.m., April 4 at home against Lake Stevens.
Arlington 0 0 0 0 3 1 1—5 7 0
Oak Harbor 0 3 0 0 1 0 0—4 8 5
(A) Nicely and Willet, McAlister (3), Holland and Barone, WP-Nicely, LP-Holland (1-1) Record: Oak Harbor 1-2 league, 2-3 overall.
