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The Lady Raiders earned their first softball victory of 2012 last Monday in Grand Coulee over the Fillies of Bridgeport 20-8.

The effort was highlighted by Ciara Nault’s two inside-the-park home runs and her two diving catches at shortstop, the second for the final out of the game.

Riki Wippel and Danielle Laramie teamed up on the mound for a pitching performance greatly improved from the outings against Brewster and Okanogan.

Ashley Semmens and Jada Desautel hit triples, and Desautel contributed a third inside-the-park homer to push the lead to seven in the fourth inning.

Raelynn Dennis, Hailey Chaney, and Keya Fasthorse all had three steals on the day, plus they each stole home during pitching and fielding errors that plagued Bridgeport in the later innings.

The game was in Lady Raider hands almost the entire time. Bridgeport evened up the score at five apiece in the second, but that was it as the Lake Roosevelt bats exploded and the Fillies never again came close.

Lady Raider fielding is starting to come together as errors were fewer and innings moved quicker.

The Lady Raiders then travelled on Friday to Bridgeport for a doubleheader to finish the series. At Bridgeport the pitching improvents continued with holding the Fillies to nine runs in the first game and four in the second.

Batting and base running remained hot; the Lady Raiders again scored 20 runs in the first game and another 15 in the second.

Head Coach Tristan Daniels had this to say about sweeping the Fillies, “The Lady Raiders played a great game from start to finish,” Head Coach Tristan Daniels said. “The Ladies are learning to work together as a team, and are overcoming their obstacles on defense.”

The Lady Raiders took on the Nannies of Pateros last night in Pateros and will return to Grand Coulee to finish that season series in a Friday doubleheader starting at 3 p.m.

Game 1: LR 20-Bridgeport 8

Game 2: LR 20-Bridgeport 9

Game 3: LR 15-Bridgeport 4