Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Action from Friday’s game at Arcata High School.
By Ray Hamill — A two-week layoff between games didn’t slow the Arcata girls down on Friday.
Playing their first softball game since March 14, the Tigers welcomed the Ferndale Wildcats to Arcata High and won 8-7 on a walk-off, with senior Jenna Renteria driving in the winning run in the bottom of the seventh.
The Tigers trailed by three going into the final inning but dug deep when they needed to on their way to their first victory of the season.
“I was glad to see the team rally around each other at the time they needed to,” first-year Arcata head coach Jason Miller said.
Several players stepped up late for the home team, including Renteria who drove in junior Josie Cunningham for the winning run to cap the late comeback.
Peyton Miller kickstarted the late rally with an RBI single that scored Nallia Meyer, who had singled to reach base a few minutes earlier.
Alli Mitchell, who had reached base on a fielder’s choice, added a second run just seconds later thanks to some mistakes by the Ferndale defense and the Tigers suddenly found themselves just one run adrift with only one out.
Cunningham then walked and quickly stole her way to second base, giving the home team a pair of runners in scoring position.
Arcata’s Taylor Sutherland then singled to drive in Peyton Miller for the tying run, before Renteria’s clutch late hit sealed the victory.
“Minimize the mistakes and good things happen,” said Jason Miller, who added “we needed (the win).”
The ending was a disappointing one for the Wildcats, but the performance had plenty of bright spots as the smallest school in the H-DNL matched one of the biggest two schools in the league stride for stride for much of the afternoon.
Check out the game-tying and game-winning hits by Arcata’s Taylor Sutherland and Jenna Renteria below …
It was certainly an entertaining game, with the Wildcats overturning a two-run deficit with four runs in the top of the fifth and adding an insurance run in the sixth to take a late three-run lead.
“I thought we swung the bats pretty well throughout the game,” Ferndale head coach Jeremy Griffith said. “Early in the game we just weren’t getting the hits to drop.”
Four different Ferndale players finished with multiple hits, including the impressive Madison Gossi, who went 2-for-4 and drove in three runs.
The junior standout had a big two-RBI double to tie the game in the fifth.
Alayna Cooney also was 2-for-4 with two RBIs, scoring Gossi moments later to put the Cats up 5-4.
Danica Dowd capped the big fifth inning for the visitors with an RBI double to put her team up 6-4.
Olivia Gossi and Fallon Bullan each also had two hits and two runs for the Cats.
Team defense, however, proved costly late in game as the Cats committed five errors for the afternoon.
“Defensively, it’s a little frustrating,” Griffith said. “This was the second game in a row we had a chance and our defense let us down a little.”
Olivia Gossi took the loss in the circle but pitched well for much of the afternoon and only gave up three earned runs.
It isn’t helping matters that the Cats are playing this season without experienced junior Tinnley Pidgeon, who is injured but still made her presence felt on Friday while encouraging her teammates from the dugout.
“They’re still learning and getting better,” Griffith said of the Cats, who have a young roster. “We have just two seniors and we’re missing Tinnley who is our defensive on-field leader, but we’ve got players who are working hard. We’re just not there yet.”
Riley Houston got the start in the circle for the Tigers, who gave up two early runs but then held the Wildcats scoreless for three straight innings.
Freshman Sophia Spetzer took over in the circle in the fifth inning on the way to her first-ever high school win.
“We used every player,” Jason Miller said. “All 13 players ended up playing today and everybody showed up when they needed to.”
Renteria and Peyton Miller led the Arcata bats and each finished 3-for-4, while Lily Cunningham was 2-for-2 and also reached base twice on a pair of walks.
With the win, the Tigers improved to 1-2 on the season.
They will cap a busy couple of days with four games at the Trinity tournament on Saturday as they continue to prepare for the Big 5, which gets under way next week.
The Cats, meanwhile, dropped to 3-4 as they get set for a conference-opening doubleheader against St. Bernard’s next Thursday, weather permitting.
