Colusa County eliminated
A season of skyrocketing play came crashing down in Rio Linda for the Colusa County senior division all-star softball team Wednesday night.
Back-to-back losses — 6-4 against Tahoe on Tuesday and 4-1 against Auburn on Wednesday — stopped the club two wins shy of a berth in the Western Regionals in Butte, Mont.
"It's a county team, a great group of gals who played their hearts out," manager Jason English said Wednesday.
"It's unfortunate we slumped at the wrong time, but we played everyone tough. ... I think we just wore out."
The state District 2 champions came into the division tournament with an 18-0 record, and quickly posted two wins to up that tally to 20-0 and to get within a win of the championship game.
But Tahoe ended that streak, pushing Colusa County into the losers' bracket.
That put the club in a position of having to beat Auburn to have a chance at avenging the loss to Tahoe, though Colusa would have had to beat that team twice to move on to the regionals.
Wednesday's game pitted Colusa County's Jani Bowen against Auburn hurler Jenna Knox — but the contest proved to be more of a Wee Willie Keeler type of game.
And it was the Auburn batters who "hit 'em where they ain't."
Auburn delivered three run-scoring hits — two bloopers that fell between infielders rushing out and outfielders rushing in.
Colusa County, on the other hand, left nine runners on base — five in scoring position.
"We've been a good hitting club all year," English said. "So that's been the weird thing about the last couple of (games). We have not had a game where we couldn't get the big hit."
Auburn took a 1-0 lead in the first on a double by Kary Romero and a two-out single by Taylor Graham. Romero was 3-for-3 with two doubles; Taylor was 2-for-3 with a double.
Auburn added three more runs in the second, all coming after two outs.
Jamie Schlenker knocked in a run with a single and scored on a base hit by Kailey Gaffney, who raced home when the Colusa County center fielder did not immediately throw the ball back into the infield after a single by Romero.
Colusa County watched scoring chances in each of the four innings evaporate before notching its lone run in the fifth.
Cheyenne Rogers, who was 3-for-4 in the game, opened in the inning with a triple into the left-center gap. A misplayed grounder off the bat of Emily Mobley sent Rogers home.
Colusa County put two more runners on the bases in the seventh. With one out, Rogers singled and went to second on an error by the left fielder, and Mobley singled right behind her to put runners on the corners.
Bowen then hit a hard bouncer right at the third baseman, who made the play at first. Rogers broke for the plate on the throw, but Knox — who had gone to first base in the fifth — threw a strike to Gaffney at the plate, and Rogers slid into the tag to end the game.
Knox earned the win, allowing three hits, walking one and striking out three in four innings. Nicole Nevares gave up the one earned run, but picked up the save.
Bowen took the loss, allowing four earned runs over four innings, surrendering six hits and hitting a batter before giving way to Mobley, who worked two scoreless innings.
Tori Burrious added a pair of hits for Colusa County, both singles.
Details of the game against Tahoe were not available.
