The River Ridge softball team earned a much-needed victory Wednesday afternoon, dismantling the Bellarmine Lions 17-8 to snap a three-game losing streak.
After trailing 4-2 entering the bottom of the fourth inning, the Hawks’ bats caught fire. River Ridge scored six in the fourth, two in the fifth and seven in the sixth. Haleigh Camberg delivered the go-ahead two-run double in the fourth, and Raylie Birklid blasted a two-run shot that had home run written all over it as soon as it left her bat as the Hawks took an 8-4 lead.
Bellarmine crept close with a three-run fifth inning, but River Ridge’s two runs in the bottom half of the inning gave it a cushion.
In the sixth, Emma Liljenberg picked up two RBIs on a single, and Jacklyn Holcomb delivered a bases-clearing triple to put the Hawks up by nine.
"In today's game, our bats came alive. Our hitting has been our Achilles," River Ridge head coach Danny Greene said. "In yesterday's practice, we went back to the basics, teaching them how to self-correct when at the plate without the coaches constantly correcting."
Birklid finished 3 of 3 at the plate with her third home run of the season and was a triple shy of hitting for the cycle, adding three RBIs. Jaylah Sok-Vandergriff also went a perfect 3 for 3 and scored four times, and she pitched a complete game with seven strikeouts, nine hits allowed and two walks.
"Jaylah came on the mound and was Jaylah today. Slowly, she is swinging the bat like we know she can," Greene said. "She is the heartbeat of our team, and Raylie Birklid is the soul of our team. She is absolutely crushing the ball. All in all, our performance was purely a team effort."
River Ridge (4-6, 4-4 Puget Sound League) will visit North Thurston (3-5, 2-4 Puget Sound League) Thursday afternoon in a battle of two of the highest scoring teams in the league.
