5/3/07: Tough Trip for Mountaineers

May 3, 2007

It’s never easy making the long ride across I-84 and then down I-5, and getting ready to play two teams in the top half of the conference, and EOU found that out last week.
The first of the two doubleheaders had the Mountaineers at Southern Oregon who are one game ahead of Eastern in the conference standings. The Raiders traveled to La Grande in early April and EOU was able to come away with a split. Much of the same would be found in the two games in Ashland.
Game one Eastern found themselves up 2-1 in the final inning, but surrendered two runs in the bottom of the inning and SOU escaped with a 3-2 victory.
In the first game senior Meghan Henderson went two for four with a run scored while juniors Lydia Holm and Michelle St. John collected the two RBI’s.
In game two, EOU provided the rally after being down 2-0 in the sixth inning when the offense came to life, enabling a come back victory, 3-2.
Freshman Iris Woodhead and junior Teri Cisler each went two for three in the game with an RBI. Junior Vanessa Wood was responsible for bringing in the other run. Fellow junior, Kelly West collected the win, pitching five and a third innings. West gave up eight hits but allowed only the two runs.
The final two games of the four game trip would send EOU 90 miles east through the mountains to Klamath Falls to face number 13th ranked Oregon Tech.
There first two games in April in La Grande was another split, but only one of Oregon Tech’s nine losses on the season.
Tech came into the match second in the conference with an intimidating record of 29-9.
In the first game EOU spotted the Owls four runs before mounting a comeback to tie the score at four, in the top half of the sixth inning. Unfortunately, OIT came back in the bottom half of the inning to add two more runs, bringing the score to 6-4.
The Mounties never gave up, loading the bases in the top of the seventh before a force out ended their rally. Lindsey Smith led the way for The Mountaineers, finishing the game 2-3 with an RBI and a run scored.
The second game was even harder for the Mounties to handle. Down 3-0 in the top of the final inning, EOU fought back scoring four runs to take the lead 4-3.
It was senior standout Meghan Henderson’s' two run triple that brought EOU back. The La Grande native also scored on an error on the play.
Once again the Mounties were unable to hang on. In the bottom half of the 7th Oregon Tech scored two runs to earn the win.
The Mountaineers will return to the field on Friday, May 5th when they host Albertson College at Pioneer Park. It will be the last time seniors Stephanie Baumann, Meghan Henderson and the injured Marissa Becker play in front of the home crowd. Game time is set for 1:00pm.