CORVALLIS — In the four-year run of the Dayton High School softball team that came to a conclusion Friday, there has never been a time when the team laid down for anyone, and the Pirates didn’t against Rainier.
Trailing the Columbians 5-0 and with one out in the fifth inning, Pirates catcher Kylee Hill blasted a home run 20 feet past the fence in right center to cut Rainier’s lead to 5-3 and give new life to Dayton.
Though Dayton would push one run across in the sixth inning, the Pirates stranded runners on the corners in the fifth and left the bases loaded in the sixth to fall 5-4 to Rainier on Friday afternoon in the OSAA Class 3A state championship game at the OSU Softball Complex.
“I really believe, and the thing about this team is they didn’t fold when they got down 5-0,” Dayton coach Rob Umbenhower said. “They didn’t say we lost and we’ll just let them beat us bad.
“We stayed in it and fought back and played a little better defense towards the end. The two errors came in the first inning and after that we settled down and after that started to play again.”
Early in Friday’s game, Rainier played well and exploited Dayton’s errors.
With one out in the first, Kami Gray single and Sarah Probasco reached on an error. Julia Taylor hit a two-RBI double and scored on another error. One out later Megan Hackenberg hit an RBI double for a 3-0 lead.
The Columbians scored runs in the second and fourth innings to build a 5-0 lead.
But Hill brought Dayton back in the game with one swing.
With Teddi Hop and Haley Couch on first and second, Hill belted the ball out of the park.
“And she has that big bat,” Umbenhower said. “I think she was a little frustrated with herself for her at bats early, and she took it out on that pitch.”
In the sixth inning Couch singled to score Malina Ray from second and the Pirates loaded the bases with one out, but Probasco – who came on in relief – got Dayton players to ground out and strike out to end the threat.
In the four-year stretch that ended Friday, the Pirates (27-4) were 99-18, lost in the state semifinals once, the state championship game twice – both to Rainier – and won the state championship in 2015.
But the state championship was the third for Rainier (24-6) in the same four-year span.
“Both these teams, and that program is an excellent program,” said Umbenhower, in his 17th year at the school and sixth state title game appearance. “We beat them, they beat us, we beat them, they beat us, we got them last year.”
bpoehler@StatesmanJournal.com, 503-399-6701 or Twitter.com/bpoehler
Rainier 5, Dayton 4
RAI 310 100 0-5 9 2
DAY 000 031 0-4 10 2
Schimmel, Probasco (5) and Gray; Couch and Hill; WP- Schimmel; LP- Couch. 2B- Gray (R), Crape (R), Hackenber (R), K. Rojas (D). HR- Kylee Hill (D).
Dayton’s Kylee Hill (8) watches a ball she hit go over the right field fence in Dayton’s 5-4 loss to Rainier in the OSAA Class 3A state championship game on Friday, June 3, 2016.
Dayton’s Teddi Hop slides into second base in Dayton’s 5-4 loss to Rainier in the OSAA Class 3A state championship game on Friday, June 3, 2016.
Dayton first baseman Rachael Fluke tracks down a foul ball during Dayton’s 5-4 loss to Rainier in the OSAA Class 3A state championship game on Friday, June 3, 2016.