Cowgirls back on track with win over Seaside

The Crook County Cowgirls rebounded from a loss to Yamhill Carlton on Friday, March 22 to roll past Seaside 11-2 Tuesday afternoon in Prineville.

“I think it was very important,” Crook County pitcher Raelynn Weaver said of getting back in the win column. “We are ranked pretty high and we want to go into the season with the mentality to win it all. We know we can go far this season.”

Weaver started in the circle for Crook County — which is ranked No. 2 in the 4A OSAA power rankings — and she gave up just one hit while striking out five in six innings of work. Weaver was wild early in the game, walking a pair of batters in the first inning. That coupled with a trio of stolen bases led to the first Seaside run of the game.

Crook County answered with a pair of runs in the second inning as Tylee Cossitt walked, stole second, went to third on a wild pitch and scored on a passed ball. With two outs Kya Mozingo walked, then scored on a double from Weaver.

Seaside tied the game in the third inning on a walk and a single to center. However, Crook County quickly regained the lead in the bottom half of the inning. With one out Kaylyn Fildes singled to right, then stole second, Cossitt then doubled to center, scoring Fildes.

From that point on it was all Crook County. The Cowgirls scored a pair of runs in the fourth inning to push their lead to 5-2. The Cowgirls then exploded for five runs in the fifth inning and an insurance run in the sixth.

Meanwhile, Weaver completely shut down Seaside through the sixth inning when Kendall Martinez took over in the pitchers circle, striking out one and not allowing a base runner in the top of the seventh.

“I felt pretty good going into warmups,” Weaver said. “Then, that first inning I just kind of needed to relax more and focus on getting the ball where my catcher wanted it and it ended up working out very well.”

Led by Cossitt and Weaver, the Cowgirls ripped 12 hits in the game. Cossitt went 3-3 at the plate with a pair of doubles, while Weaver was 2-3, also with a pair of doubles. Mozingo also went 2-3 with a triple, while Fildes went 2-4 and Danner Hemphill went 1-4 with a double.

“I was very pleased,” Weaver said of the Cowgirls hitting. “We were getting our hits and getting around on the ball, which really helped us and our energy was always up in the dugout, which encourages our hitters to hit the ball and just do what they can at the plate.”

With the win the Cowgirls improved to 3-1 on the year and Seaside fell to 4-2.

Crook County is back in action on Thursday when they travel to Grants Pass for the three-day Stangs Stampede, which is being held at Hidden Valley High School. The Cowgirls open the tournament against Cottage Grove, 4-1, play Marshfield, 4-3, on Friday, then face Hidden Valley, 2-1, Saturday.

“We have to stay strong,” Weaver said of the team's plan for the Hidden Valley tournament. “We need to be mentally tough at the plate and be very selective what we are hitting and just trust ourselves and always come out firing and high energy.”

Crook County 11, Seaside 2

at Crook County, March 26

Seaside – 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 – 2 1 4

Crook County – 0 2 1 2 5 1 – 11 12 2