The Lady Raiders are now in first place in Region XVI. Three Rivers made the most of its weekend homestand by sweeping Crowder on Friday, 5-4 in 10 innings and 11-7 in the nightcap, then sweeping MCC Maple Woods on Saturday, 6-3 and 9-1 in six innings. The Lady Raiders finish their season series against Maple Woods on Sunday. The four-game spurt by Three Rivers (19-8, 7-1 Region XVI) gives them a strong start to the region season, and the Raiders have now won 10 of 11 going back to March 15. Gracie King had a big game in the opener against Maple Woods (11-9, 5-3 Region XVI), which Three Rivers won 6-3. King was 2 for 4 with four RBIs as the Lady Raiders fi nished with 10 total hits. Kristyn Carpenter, who hits in front of King in the lineup in the No. 2 spot, scored three times and was 1 for 2 with a pair of walks. Summer Shockley (12-3) struck out seven, while allowing 11 hits and three walks in the win. While Three Rivers spread out its runs in the opener, it jumped out on Maple Woods in the nightcap with six runs in the bottom of the first inning. The Lady Raiders then sat on the lead and allowed a single run, and tacked on three in the bottom of the sixth inning to invoke the run rule. Three Rivers leadoff hitter Randi Scruggs was 3 for 4 with two runs and a walk. Cleanup hitter Allison Pingel, who is quickly climbing the Three Rivers single season home run list, was 3 for 4 with a run and three RBIs. Seven different Lady Raiders scored.
Macy Rogers (5-1), who came back from injury the day before, pitched four innings and allowed three hits and five walks with three strikeouts. Carleigh Burnett finished the game and had three strikeouts with one hit. Rogers also picked up the win in Friday's nightcap after Three Rivers gave her a 10-0 lead after two innings. In her first win since March 8, Rogers pitched 3 1/3 innings and allowed six hits and two walks with four strikeouts. "She threw really well in those first two innings and the third inning she kind of hit the wall," Null said. Crowder (24-9, 1-3 Region XVI) got three runs against her, cutting Three Rivers' lead to 10-4, and then put another run on the board in the fifth. "I knew they were going to come back. They are just too good," Null said. "They scrapped their way back into it." When Crowder added two more runs in the seventh, making it 11-7, Null put Shockley back into close the game. With a four run cushion, Shockley didn't get the save for getting the final three outs. She had a strikeout with no hits and no walks. "I didn't want to let them get too close. It was a great team win. We used everybody today and they all contributed in different ways," Null said. The first game of the set, which went 10 innings, was the Lady Raiders' most stressful. They had chances to win it, chances to lose it, and eventually Allison Pingel had a walk-off single with the bases loaded. "We came out and played a tough first one. We had a chance to lose that one a couple of times," Null said. "It was a nail-biter back and forth. It was two good teams and somebody is going to lose and somebody is going to win." In the top of the seventh, Shockley had a one run lead, with one out and the bases loaded when she hit a batter to tie the game. Shockley got a pair of infield flies to escape, and Three Rivers went three up and three down. Crowder had a two-run home run in the top of the eighth to take the lead at a time when the Lady Raiders hadn't had a hit since the second inning and only had two hits all game. That's when Scruggs led off the eighth with a single and Kristyn Carpenter hit her third home run of the season to tie the game. With the international tiebreaker in effect in the 10th inning, Shockley escaped a bases loaded jam with two outs. Three Rivers then loaded the bases with one out thanks to the tiebreaker and a pair of walks. After Pingel hooked a hard line drive foul, she sent a low pitch back up the middle to score Lindsey Elfrink.
Scott Borkgren - Daily American Republic