Ravens open PAL with win

But after cruising through the first three innings Wednesday, Sequoia found itself trailing 3-1 to the Vikings.

The Ravens, however, rallied by scoring six runs over the final three innings to post a 7-3 victory.

“We’re happy for the win,” said Michelle Sarrail, Sequoia’s first-year head coach. “We have some things to clean up, but we’re happy to get a win any way we can.”

Sequoia (1-0 PAL Ocean, 4-2 overall) picked up that win by banging out 10 hits and then watched Mills (0-1, 1-5) help the Ravens with four errors on the day.

“We can’t make excuses,” said Mills head coach Chris Hammond, who is in his second stint managing the Vikings. “We just have to clean it up.”

It looked to be a quick game as Sequoia freshman pitcher Ainsley Waddell was on fire to start the game. She threw eight straight strikes to open the game before throwing a ball to Mills No. 3 hitter Ione Thompson.

Waddell would go on to face the minimum through the first 3 2/3 innings, as Mills’ first base runner — Adyson Kim, who was hit by a pitch in the top of the third — was erased when Sequoia catcher Alexis Navarette threw her out trying to steal second.

“We ran into a buzzsaw in Waddell,” Hammond said.

The Ravens had given Waddell a 1-0 lead with an unearned run in the second when Mackenize Jackson legged out a triple after her bloop into no-man’s land in shallow right field dropped in when Mills rightfielder Hannah Kwong and second baseman Kim collided. Jackson would come home when a Claire Sarrail popup was dropped.

Waddell had retired the first two batters of the fourth when the wheels simply fell off. Thompson gave the Vikings their first hit with a sharp single up the middle on a full count. Emma McGraw followed with a comebacker that deflected off Waddell’s leg for an infield hit to bring up catcher Veronica Turner.

That’s when things got exciting. Turner roped a double to the base of the fence in center field to drive in Thompson. As McGraw hustled to third, the throw from the Sequoia cutoff man sailed over the third-base dugout, sending McGraw home and Turner moving to third.

That brought up Nya Thompson, who hit a slow roller up the third-base line.

Khloe Lagunte, who was running for Turner, broke for home on the swing as Sequoia third baseman Lala Taimani fielded the ball and tried to tag Lagunte as she ran by.

The umpires ruled, however, that she had missed the tag. Lagunte was safe and Mills suddenly had a 3-1 lead.

It was short-lived, however as the Ravens responded with three runs of their own in the bottom of the inning.

“Instead of winning the inning, we tied the inning,” Hammond said.

And the Ravens retook the lead thanks to a lack of execution and an error. With one out, Sequoia’s No. 8 hitter Taimani drew a walk on a full count. Mia Enanoria, the Raven’s No. 9 hitter, followed with what looked to be a sacrifice bunt. The Mills first baseman fielded the ball and tried to tag Enanoria going by, but like in the top half of the inning, missed the tag and the Ravens were in business.

Leadoff hitter Talia Tokheim came to the plate and drilled a two-run triple to the fence in right field. Mills try to get Enanoria at the plate, but the ball sailed over the catcher and bounced around the backstop before getting tangled up near the Sequoia dugout. As the Mills first baseman dug out the ball, Tokheim broke for home, using a head-first slide to beat the throw and give the lead back to Sequoia for good, 4-3.

Coach Sarrail said she was happy to see her team rally after losing the lead.

“I have to say, we have a young team,” Coach Sarrail said, as the Sequoia rosters features two seniors, three juniors, two sophomores and five freshmen.

“So we’ve been working our emotional and mental game.”

After that, it was all Waddell, who gave up only two more hits the rest of the way, both coming in the top of the seventh.

In addition to her complete game, Waddell reached base in all four of her plate appearances, banging out a pair of doubles, a single, drawing a walk and scoring a run.

“[Her performance] was fantastic. She’s a freshman, so we like her,” Coach Sarrail said. “She’s got a lot (of talent). It’s fun having an offensive pitcher, too.”

The Sequoia offense, meanwhile, continued to add on. A pair of Mills errors opened the door to two more runs in the fifth, with Taimani picking up a RBI and in the sixth, Waddell doubled and later scored on a Navarette double for the final run of the game.

“We feel we have a bright future,” Coach Sarrail said.

Said Hammond: “We have to find a way to learn from our mistakes.”