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Ashland upset bid falls short By Chris Miller Ashland Daily Tidings Ashland High's softball team showed the Southern Oregon Conference how small the difference is between first and last place Tuesday at North Mountain Park, holding off league-leading South Medford for 6 2-3 innings, before losing Game 1 of their double header, 1-0. And the Grizzlies could have, and should have, won the game. Ashland High junior pitcher/first baseman Aimee Jeska lets the ball slip away in a close play at third base. The runner was safe South Medford swept the SOC doubleheader. Ashland Daily Tidings/DENISE BARATTA "I talked to their coach and he said we battled them as much as anybody," Grizz head coach Rich Beugli said. "We thought that this would be one of our surprises, but it didn't work out." South had less trouble claiming the nightcap, winning 5-0 to earn the sweep. The two teams went at it for eight scoreless innings Saturday before rain forced a re-do. "It was really frustrating, because we had them on the ropes on Saturday," starting Game 1 pitcher Megan Beugli said. "If we would have gone one more inning, I know we would have won." Tuesday, the Grizz (3-16 overall, 1-9 SOC) held the Panthers (15-4, 9-1) from getting a runner into scoring position for four innings, and allowed only one more in the entire game - and it ended up being the only runner to make it home. In the top of the seventh, Alex Jordahl led off with one of the Panthers' four hits off Beugli. Jordahl advanced to second on Erica Corn's groundout to second. Then, Ashland's only mental error in the last 14 innings cost the Grizzlies the game. With one out, Jonni Byrne hit a sharp ground ball to Grizzly shortstop Aimee Jeska. Jeska threw out Bryne for out two, but junior first baseman Jenna Randall saw Jordahl running for third and made an ill-advised throw to the bag. The ball hit Jordahl and squirted into shallow left field, allowing her to score the winning run. "It's one of the toughest things, not to throw the ball when you shouldn't," coach Beugli said of his team's only defense miscue. Even with this defensive lapse, the Grizz were in position to hand the Panthers their second loss of the season. The Grizz stranded seven runners, five in scoring position. Beugli pitched seven strong innings, giving up only four hits and no walks while striking out three. In the fifth inning, the Grizz had the bases loaded with only one out. But pinch hitter Bailey Hasty, a freshman, popped up the third pitch she saw to the Panthers' catcher. Then Ashland's leadoff batter, senior Tessa Maurer, struck out for the third time to end the inning. The Game 1 bright spot for the Grizz offense was junior second baseman Lizzy Clason. Clason went 2-for-3 but watched her teammates leave her on third twice. "We haven't been doing that well on offense lately, but I thought we did pretty well today," Clason said. "I was pretty disappointed that we had to play another full game today, but it was pretty fun." Clason led off the seventh inning with a single to left. Junior catcher Alysse Carlson drew one of the three walks off the Panthers' starting pitcher Darci Bryne. Everything was looking rosy for the Grizz when junior third baseman Zara Seligson placed a perfect sacrifice bunt to advance the runners to second and third. Then, just as in the fifth, the Grizzlies squandered runners with one out, as both junior Jackie Renteria and Maurer gave Bryne her fifth and sixth strikeouts to end the game. "We have to execute and we didn't do that," Beugli said while raking the pitcher's mound. Her dad and coach agreed. "We were close," coach Beugli added, "but we just didn't execute when we needed to and that's the difference between winning and losing." Game 2 wasn't much of a contest, as the Panthers relaxed and out-hit the Grizz 11-2. Jackie Chaplin, South's leadoff batter, went a perfect 4-for-4 in the nightcap. She ripped the combination of Jeska and Beugli for two doubles, two singles and two RBIs. Starting pitcher Jen Mendenhal kept the Grizz off balance, striking out seven batters, allowing only two free bases. The only hits she surrendered were a seeking-eye base hit to right field and an infield single. "She's a good pitcher and she kept jamming us inside," Megan Beugli said of her hurling counterpart. The Grizzlies take on Eagle Point in a non-conference game today. Boys Tennis At Ashland, Michael Janes remained undefeated at No. 1 singles and Ashland stayed unbeaten in Southern Oregon Conference boys tennis with a 9-0 victory over Roseburg Tuesday. The Grizzlies did not lose a set against the Indians and raised their record to 8-0 in the SOC. "We were swinging easy today," Ashland coach Dick Streng said. "We were not tight at all." Janes lost only one game in the match against Roseburg's Spencer Grieb. "Michael Janes came with his big serve that has been missing the last few weeks," said Streng. "He didn't get rattled today." The Grizzly No. 1 doubles team of Ari Zaslow and Evan Schleining also remained unbeaten with a straight-set love victory. Girls Tennis At Roseburg, the Ashland High girls won three of four doubles matches to survive a scare and topple the Roseburg Indians 5-4 in a Southern Oregon Conference dual Tuesday. The Indians won the top two singles matches, but Ashland's Jessica Baker, split from doubles partner Justine Bowen-Jones, beat Heather Bartlett in the No. 3 singles match, 6-2, 6-0. LINKS: DAILY TIDINGS: Main | News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Opinion | Columnists | AP News | Subscribe | Archives | Weather | Classifieds | Contact Us | Privacy REVELS: Main | Calendar | Dining | Movies | T.V. OTHER: Road Cams Copyright 2003 Ashland Daily Tidings 541.482.3456. 1661 Siskiyou Blvd., Ashland, OR 97520. Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. - Advertisers -