MONTESANO — It took a little while, but Montesano finally produced its one big inning to support its defense and pitching against Lakeside-Nine Mile Falls on Monday afternoon.
Playing on the Rottle Field turf, the Bulldogs found their bats in a five-run fifth inning to take away the drama of this non-league contest with the Eagles with a 9-0 victory.
Peyton Poler went 4-for-4, with three RBI, at the plate for Montesano (4-1 overall). Samantha Stanfield threw five shutout innings, striking out seven and walking one, for the victory in the circle.
“Right off the bat, Peyton had their pitcher’s number; she had a fantastic game,” Montesano head coach Pat Pace said. “When the rest of the team can feed off that, they will be joining her. Our defense is solid, but our bats have to improve. Instead of hitting sporadically, we have to put the hits together; and, put them together earlier. We have to make our adjustments in the on-deck circle.”
While Lakeside pitcher Shelby Cleassen (game-high 13 strikeouts) made Montesano work in the first four innings at the plate, the Bulldogs were comfortable with Stanfield throwing. The Eagles scattered three hits and had just one runner at second base in the first five innings.
With relief pitcher Annie Cristelli pitching, Lakeside got a runner to third base, but never threatened to score.
“Annie pitched really well for us against Holy Names (on Saturday); pitching-wise, we’re solid,” Pace added.
This left Montesano plenty of time to adjust to Cleassen and benefited in the fifth inning. The Bulldogs sent nine runners to the plate and slugged five hits, beginning with Abi Parkin’s one-out single.
Poler followed Parkin with an RBI double to the left-center field fence and moved to third on Josie Toyra’s single and alert baserunning to second on the throw to third. Following a strikeout, Monte struck.
On a full-court and runners going, Lexi Lovell’s bloop infield single turned into a two-run single for a 6-0 lead. One at-bat later, Lovell cruised home when Allysa Gustafson slugged a 1-1 pitch from Cleassen for a two-run home run to left field.
Monte finished the scoring with an RBI single from Jaden Schoch in the seventh. Poler started her day with an RBI double in the first inning and added an RBI single in the third. Toyra followed Poler with an RBI double in the third for a 3-0 lead.
Today, Montesano will take on Castle Rock in another non-league home game on the Rottle Field turf.
Lakeside 000 000 0 — 0 4 4 Montesano 102 051 x — 9 10 0
Cleassen and Kinzel; Stanfield, Cristelli (6) and Poler.
RBI: Montesano — Lovell 2, Poler 3, Gustafson 2, Toyra. Four hits: Montesano — Poler. Two hits: Lakeside — Kinzel. Montesano — Toyra. Home run: Montesano — Gustafson. Doubles: Montesano — Poler 2, Toyra.
Winning pitcher — Stanfield (seven strikeouts, one walk). Losing pitcher — Cleassen (13 strikeouts, one walk).
