The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

TOUCHET - The Day­ton softball team came out on top after a hard-fought game against the Touchet Indians, winning with a final score of 4-2.

Dayton opened the first inning with a single from Sarah Phillips. Phillips and second batter Malia Frame were both thrown out on a double play before third batter Jessica Tate was thrown out to end the side's inning.

The Indians were able to go through four batters but couldn't get a runner around.

In the top of the second inning, cleanup hitter Sa­mantha Harting made it on base but the next three batters were unable to bring her home.

In the bottom of the second, the Indians swung through four more batters but still remained score­less. In the third inning, both teams continued the scoreless streak, with three up and three down for Touchet, but five batters working through the rota­tion for Dayton before the inning ended.

In the fourth inning, the Bulldogs brought one run in while the Indians re­mained scoreless, bringing the tally to 1-0, Dayton.

Both teams continued scoreless through the fifth inning, culminating mo­mentum for an exciting sixth inning.

In the top of the sixth, the Bulldogs brought seven batters to the plate, bring­ing one run around to pull farther ahead of the Indi­ans, 2-0.

The Indians responded at the bottom of the sixth by taking advantage of an error and bringing two run­ners around home before retiring the side, tying the score up 2-2.

In the seventh inning, the Bulldogs shut the Indians down, pulling ahead 4-2. In the bottom of the seventh, the Indians were unable to bring any runners around, ending the game 4-2 in Dayton's favor.

Dayton head coach Terry Robins said the game was a good workout for pitcher Harting. The team had a lot of opportunities in the first few innings when they could have brought runners around but ultimately failed to do so.

"The error in the sixth in­ning that allowed (Touchet) to score a few runs - it was kind of a combination of a few things," Robins said. "It kind of shows you how quickly the bottom can fall out."

The most notable player of the game was Sam Bled­soe, who went four for four at bat, hitting two singles, a double and a triple.