Mountaineer bats struggling to find consistency with tough stretch ahead

When the Rainier High School softball team’s bats are cooking, the Mountaineers are a difficult team to beat. When their bats go cold, things seem to fall apart around them.

This trend has resulted in the Mountaineers going 5-1 when they score seven or more runs and 1-6 when they score fewer. Rainier has lost four of its last five games, including three losses by mercy rule.

“We’re looking for consistency on offense, and we can’t really find it,” Rainier head coach Katie Qualls said after losing 17-0 against Elma in three innings on Tuesday, April 16. “It seems like when we’ve got runners in scoring position, we fall flat, and the bottom of the order could help us out a little bit more.”

The Mountaineers offense found a little bit of life the next day against Eatonville, scoring three first-inning runs before the Cruisers took a permanent lead in the third inning en route to a 10-6 win.

Rainier torched winless Wahkiakum, 18-1, in a four-inning mercy rule victory on Thursday, April 18 — the Mountaineers’ third game in as many days. The heart of the Rainier batting order was unstoppable, as Brooklynn Swenson, Keira Anderson and Ryleigh Cruse combined for 11 hits and 11 RBIs. Swenson hit two doubles and two triples, while Cruse smacked a two-run home run, her third of the year, in the fourth inning and also pitched a complete game four-hitter.

With four days of rest, the Mountaineers’ offensive woes returned in a doubleheader against Central 2B League heavyweight Toledo on Monday, April 22. Rainier was held to just one run on three hits in the opener, losing 11-1. The Mountaineers scored three runs on five hits in the second game, but the Riverhawks already owned a 12-0 lead before Rainier put a tally on the scoreboard in the third inning. Rainier’s defense continued to struggle as well, surrendering seven errors in the doubleheader.

Qualls said she wants her team to clean up the errors on defense and called for the bottom of the batting order to support the top half, as Swenson, Anderson and Cruse have driven in 62 of the team’s 88 runs this year.

The Mountaineers (6-7, 2-2 C2BL) played one of its toughest games of the season at home against Adna (8-3, 4-0 C2BL) on Wednesday, April 24, but results were not available before press time. They face another tough matchup on Monday, April 29 at Napavine (10-2, 3-1 C2BL).