TOR nips Asotin; heads for TRAC

Tekoa/Oakesdale/ Rosalia girls pegged Asotin 4-3 Tuesday night at Tekoa in the first round of the SE playoff. The one-run win sends the TOR team to the TRAC complex in Pasco Friday where they need one more to qualify for the state finals the following week at Gateway in Yakima.

Tuesday’s playoff game marked the end of a two-week game lull for TOR. They haven’t played since their last league round May 1 when they swept the same Asotin team down in the valley.

“We’ve really had to invent some original practices,” Coach Kaleb Madison commented.

Key to the 4-3 playoff win Tuesday was defense. Senior pitcher Briann Maley walked zero batters but she allowed 10 hits. The defense did an excellent job of converting the Panthers’ bat contact into outs. TOR finished with just two errors.

The Panthers trailed 1-4 until the top of the sixth inning when they scored twice. They put one runner on first base in the top of the seventh, but she was stranded.

Shannon Carrothers doubled and Taylor Nelson rapped two singles to top TOR’s six-hit attack. Also getting singles were Alexa Lindgren, Maley and Kiah Madison.

Now 11-10 on the season, TOR will play the winner of the Tuesday playoff game between Liberty Christian and Dayton. During the regular season, TOR split with both clubs.

TOR and Asotin faced off in Tuesday’s elimination round after the locals swept the Panthers 7-1 and 11-1 in the last league rounds.

Dayton was the number-three finisher in the league action, and the Patriots finished in sixth place.