ARLINGTON — On Thursday afternoon, Arlington’s Christina Rayner struck out 16 batters in an 11-inning loss to Cascade. The senior right-hander wasn’t about to let it happen again.
Rayner struck out 12 batters and drove in the game’s only run to help Arlington clinch a 4A District 1 playoff berth in a 1-0 Western Conference North Division win over Snohomish Friday afternoon at Arlington High School.
Using the tough loss as motivation, Rayner showed good command of the strike zone and confidence in her defense while escaping two one-out jams in the second and third innings.
“Be angry the night of and just get it out and the next morning is a new day, it’s like it never happened,” Rayner said of getting over the tough loss. “Take all the pent-up energy you have and turn it into positive energy and take your anger out on the ball when you’re at bat.”
Snohomish sophomore Lindsey West tripled to deep left field with one out in the top of the second inning, but Rayner settled in and struck out the next two hitters to end the threat. West had two hits for the Panthers.
Snohomish (8-4, 10-6) tripled again with one out in the third, but Kalie Basher caught a short fly ball to left field and held the runner at third before Rayner struck out Pam Post to end another threat.
“Our outfield did a very good job of getting the ball in,” Rayner said.
Amanda Lyon, a junior second baseman, also had a gem in the field for Arlington, diving to her left to corral a hard-hit ground ball off the bat of Kerrianne Gilhang to end the sixth inning.
Snohomish pitcher Breonna Chrisman kept the Eagles at bay early, but Arlington (9-4 league, 12-5 overall) got on the board with a two-out rally in the bottom of the fourth inning.
Lyon hit a one-out single passed the shortstop and stole second base on a Lisa Allen strikeout. With two outs and Lyon on second, Rayner helped her own cause with a sharply-hit single up the middle to score Lyon; Rayner advanced to second on the throw home.
Arlington’s Basher stole second and third base in the sixth inning, but an Allen ground out kept the Eagles from scoring any insurance runs.
The Eagles are currently mired in a run-scoring slump, scoring just three runs in their last three games — although they have managed a 2-1 record over the span.
Rayner, a North Dakota State University signee, said the lack of offense is a small point of concern, but it’s more the nature of the game.
“Bats go up and down, its kind of just who’s hitting and who’s not … we just need to work on making solid contact,” Rayner said.
“We’re hitting the ball at people,” Lyon said.
Even though Arlington secured a playoff spot with the win, Lyon and Rayner said that the team isn’t going to relax.
“We need to focus on staying on top of the games,” Rayner said. ” … We’re going to hopefully win the rest of our games, that’s our goal — to go undefeated for the rest of the season.”
At Arlington H.S.
Snohomish0000000—050
Arlington000100x—140
Chrisman and Gilhang. Rayner and Herrington. WP—Rayner. LP—Chrisman. 3B—West (S), No. 10. Records—Snohomish 8-4 league, 10-6 overall. Arlington 9-4, 12-5.
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