The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

SPOKANE – The Dayton girls' softball team won their first two games at the 2B District 7/9 regional tournament here Saturday, which qualified them for this week's state tournament. In the championship game however, the Lady Bulldogs fell to DeSales.

"The girls had a great day at the regional tournament," said Dayton assistant coach Desirae Jones. "Winning game one against Mary Walker cinched a state berth for us. Winning game two (over NW Christian) was icing on the cake."

Dayton prevailed, 10-3, over Mary Walker. After spotting the Chargers two runs in the top of the first inning, Dayton pitcher Megan Robins shut them down until the seventh. She allowed a total of four hits and one additional run, in the final frame.

Dayton rallied for four runs in the third and five more in the sixth. "We ran the bases well against Mary Walker, using six stolen bases to get into scoring position," Jones said.

For the game, the Lady Bulldogs had six hits, including two by Jordyn Lowe, and took advantage of multiple Charger walks.

Dayton cruised to a 15-4 win against Northwest Christian in a game that ended after six innings. Trailing 2-1 after four innings, the Lady Bulldogs broke out for nine runs in the fifth and five more in the sixth.

Of the big fifth inning, Jones said, "That's when the girls finally came alive. Every starter and even one of the subs got at least one hit in the game.  That is amazing."

Against NWC, the Dayton girls had 15 hits, including two each by Sarah Phillips, Madison Mings, Lexie Ramirez, Heidi Dobbs and Caitlyn Robins. Savannah McFarland pitched a complete game for Dayton and gave up seven hits.

Dayton faced DeSales for the fourth time this season in the championship game, but fell, 8-1. The Lady Bulldogs had only four hits in the game, while giving up 13.

"The last game against DeSales proved to be too much," said Jones. "The girls were exhausted and we just didn't have another rally left in us."

The Dayton girls head to the state tournament this week as the #2 seed from District 7/9. They face Okanogan at 9 a.m. Friday.

Mary Walker at Dayton

MW  2 0 0 0 0 0 1   3 4 0

Dayton 0 0 4 1 0 5 X  10 6 7

MW battery:  Smith and Dirturi

Dayton battery:  Megan Robins and Mings

 MW hits:  Fierro, Smith 2, Hubert

Dayton hits:  Phillips, Ramirez, Lowe 2, Moore, Hanna Becker

Dayton @ NW Christian

Dayton  1 0 0 0 9 5  15 15 1

NWC     0 0 2 0 0 2    4 7 3

 Dayton battery:  McFarland and Mings

NWC battery:  Nelson, Williams (4), Nelson (4), and Tibbetts

 Dayton hits:  Phillips 2, Frame, Bledsoe, Mings 2, Ramirez 2, Lowe, White, Dobbs 2, Caitlyn Robins 2, Hanna Becker

NWC hits:  Taylor, Nelson, Gray (HR), Tibbetts 2, Tibbetts 2

Dayton @ DeSales

Dayton  0 0 0 0 1 0 0  1 4 1

DeSales 3 1 2 2 0 0 X  8 13 1

 Dayton battery:  Megan Robins, Mings(4) and Mings, Frame (4)

DeSales battery:  Brown and Thomas

 Dayton hits:  Phillips, Ramirez, Dobbs, Hanna Becker

DeSales hits:  Acock 3, Brown 2, Lyons, Hall 2, Hamada 2, James, Ankrom, Langley