Bearcats squeak by Highclimbers, finish April with perfect record

Apr. 30—BOX SCORE

At Rec Park

BEARCATS 4, HIGHCLIMBERS 3

Shelton100 000 2 — 3

W.F. West001 003 X — 4

SHEL Pitching — Gouley 6 IP, 9 H, 4 R (1 ER), 1 BB, 3 K. Highlights — Schuffenhauer 1-2, 3B, 2 BB; Fauula 2-4, 2B, RBI; Rasmussen 2-3, R.

WFW Pitching — Tay. Tobin 7 IP, 6 H, 3 R (2 ER), 2 BB, 12 K. Highlights — Osborn 2-4, R; Fragner 2-3, RBI; Tay. Tobin 2-3, RBI.

Behind three runs in the bottom of the sixth, the W.F. West High School softball team clipped Shelton 4-3 to maintain its spot atop the Evergreen Conference standings on Wednesday night at Rec Park.

It caps the month of April that featured an 8-0 mark and five victories by three or less runs. The Bearcats (14-2, 10-1 EvCo) was able to triumph in their mid-week matchup despite three errors and a changed plate approach by Shelton.

Still, ace Taylor Tobin recorded 12 strikeouts on 118 pitches. She left the tying run in scoring position and the go-ahead run on first in the seventh.

"Didn't have her best stuff and the girl is a workhorse," W.F. West head coach Kevin Zylstra said. "Every night we play, she wants the ball. She is a competitor."

A single and an error put runners on the corners in the bottom of the sixth and Kenley Fragner ripped an RBI single to give the Bearcats the lead. Rayah Middleton scored on an error and Tobin ended the scoring with an RBI base hit.

Tobin, Fragner and Avery Osborn all had two hits for W.F. West, who still recorded nine hits and struck out only three times. Osborn scored on a wild pitch in the third to tie the game at 1-1. The Bearcats will hit the road to battle Black Hills on Friday.

"These girls are extremely resilient," Zylstra said. "We've had bad first innings and they could easily hang our heads, but there is none of that. In the end, we were able to pull it out."