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Cougs' Shrinerock keeps Pirates off balance PHOENIX -- After a successful 5-0 preseason, the Phoenix High softball team has struggled to recapture its offensive groove. The Pirates couldn't shake their hitting woes on Tuesday as Illinois Valley's Sara Shinerock gave up two hits in a complete-game, 2-0 Skyline Conference victory. The Phoenix batters chased the high ball all afternoon, leading to 11 pop-outs. "We chased high pitches out of the strikezone the entire game," Phoenix coach Rich Ficek said. "I talked about laying off the bad pitches but we just kept right on swinging at them. "We're going back to our preseason practices where we'll use more live pitching and some hitting off the tee." The Pirates didn't commit an error in the preseason but committed three against the Cougars. "Two of those errors were overthrows to first by our pitcher," said Ficek. "They (Illinois Valley) looked pretty good and didn't make the big mistakes like we did." Michelle McEvoy and Beth Nikodym picked up the lone Phoenix hits as the Pirates dropped to 9-2 overall and 4-2 in Skyline play. Illinois Valley improved to 7-0-1 and 5-0. Tiffany Ross suffered her second loss of the season against nine wins while giving up five hits. Illinois Valley ...................000 002 0 -- 2 5 2 Phoenix ..........................000 000 0 -- 0 2 3 Shinerock and Moore; Ross and Nikodym. W -- Shinerock. L -- Ross (9-2). 3B -- IV: Cook. LAKEVIEW 6, MAZAMA 0 -- At Klamath Falls, Michelle Johnson went the distance to pick up a Skyline Conference win for Lakeview. Johnson helped her cause with three hits while Andrea Gillogley added two. The Honkers evened their conference record at 3-3 while Mazama fell to 1-5. Lakeview ....................200 000 4 -- 6 9 1 Mazama .....................000 000 0 -- 0 2 4 Johnson and Gillogley; Valiton, Powell (7) and Mischler. W -- Johnson. L -- Valiton. 2B -- L: Manibusan. NORTH VALLEY 7, HIDDEN VALLEY 3 -- At Merlin, Rachell Wardlaw ran her record to 4-3 on the season to lead North Valley over Hidden Valley. Wardlaw held Hidden Valley to three runs on six hits in a complete-game performance. Hidden Valley ..................000 300 0 -- 3 6 5 North Valley .....................301 003 x -- 7 8 3 Roth and Mustafa, Ewan (3); Rachell Wardlaw and M. Beck. W -- Wardlaw (4-3). L -- Roth (2-8). 2B -- HV: Bain. 3B -- HV: Highfield. HR -- HV: Highfield. HENLEY 12, ROGUE RIVER 1 -- At Klamath Falls, Erica Clements collected two hits and one RBI and Lois Shoemaker and Ollie Herbert added a pair of RBIs each in the five-inning game called because of the 10-run mercy rule. Allison Baily accounted for Rogue River's lone run with a solo homer in the fourth inning. Henley pitchers Krystal Young and Jessica Birt combined for a two-hitter. Rogue River ....................000 10 -- 1 2 7 Henley ...............................218 1x -- 12 8 0 Artoff and Bailey; K. Young, Birt and Mills. W -- K. Young. L -- Artoff. 2B -- H: Heath. HR -- RR: Bailey. ST. MARY'S 8, DAYS CREEK 2 --At Days Creek, sophomore pitcher Sarah Fetty tossed a two-hitter and ran her record to 4-0 as St. Mary's toppled Days Creek in non-league play. Fetty helped herself by going 2-for-4 at the plate with two RBIs. Catcher Shawna Jackson also had a fine performance as she threw out three baserunners while generating two hits and two RBIs. Shasta DeArmond stole four bases for the Crusaders, who improved their season record to 7-1 with the win. St. Mary's .........................322 001 0 -- 8 8 5 Days Creek ......................001 000 1 -- 2 2 1 Fetty and Jackson; Crume, Ormond (4) and Gaeldis, Williams (5). W -- Fetty (4-0). L -- Crume. 3B -- SM: Jackson. CRATER JV 5, CASCADE CHRISTIAN 4 -- At Central Point, Kristi Vilarino's two-run single in the bottom of the seventh lifted the Crater JV to victory. Angie Wright went 3-for-4 and scored the winning run for the Comets. For Cascade Christian (5-6), Breanna Garvin and Whitney Brookins were both 3-for-4 to pace the Challengers' 11-hit attack. Cascade Christian ............200 010 1 -- 4 11 2 Crater ................................JV111 000 2 -- 5 6 1 Gordon and Gettman; Anhorn, Reade (4) and Thomas. W -- Anhorn. L -- Gordon (1-4). 2B -- CC: Gordon; C: Wright. 3B -- CC: Garvin. Today's Edition : News | Sports | Business | Weather | Tempo | Classifieds Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA