KLAMATH FALLS, OR – After the day started well for Jamestown Jimmies Softball in the program’s first NAIA tournament appearance in seven years, it ended with disappointment and with a big task ahead.
On Thursday, Jamestown defeated Arizona Christian 10-6, then lost to Oregon Tech 4-2 in the opening round of the NAIA Softball Championship at Oregon Tech’s John & Lois Stillwell Stadium.
Jamestown 10, Arizona Christian 6
Kayla Quintanilla starred at the plate for the Jimmies, hitting two go-ahead doubles and driving in four runs as Jamestown (36-15) won an NAIA tournament opener for the first time in four tries.
With the Jimmies down 4-3 in the bottom of the second inning, Quintanilla lined down the left field line to score Maddie Spaeth, Lauren Weigel and Sidnie Aasen and Jamestown led 6-4.
Arizona Christian (27-25) tied the game with two runs in the top of the fourth inning. In the bottom half, Quintanilla scored Spaeth with another double and the Jimmies led 7-6. Natalie Draper followed with an RBI groundout for her second run driven in in the game.
The last two runs for Jamestown scored on ACU errors in the fifth.
Weigel also had an RBI single and Kaitlin McCartney hit a sacrifice fly.
Maddie Hairgrove (11-1) relieved a struggling Hope Ransome and allowed just a run and four hits in four innings. Ransome allowed five runs and nine hits in three innings.
(2)Oregon Tech 4, Jamestown 2
With her third hit of the game, Oregon Tech catcher Jayce Seavert drove in the go-ahead run with a sixth-inning single, with another run scoring on an error. This completed a comeback for the Owls (43-9) from a 2-0 deficit.
For the first four and a half innings, Jamestown (36-16) maintained the lead as Abby Blair (10-8), pitching in her home state, kept pitching out of trouble as Oregon Tech stranded eight runners in the first four innings. Sydney Grendler gave the Jimmies a 1-0 lead with an RBI single in the top of the second. Trin Gregg doubled the UJ lead by hitting the first pitch of the top of the third inning for an inside-the-park home run.
Puakea Milbourne drove in Oregon Tech’s first run with an RBI single in the fifth inning, followed by a tying run-scoring single by Addison Kachnik.
Blair allowed four runs and 11 hits in five innings.
The loss means that the Jimmies must now win four games in a row over the next three days to make the NAIA Softball World Series for the first time since 1992.
On Tuesday, the Jimmies will play the winner of Tuesday’s first elimination game between Arizona Christian and Southeastern (FL). Coverage will begin at 5:45 PM on Tuesday on The Voice of the Jimmies, Jamestown 107.1.