NASELLE – After spring break and the weather wiped out several chances to play some games, the Naselle Comettes softball team finally got a chance to get back on the field Tuesday, April 15.

The Comettes had trouble getting started and fell behind 8-0 in the early going in the Pacific League game played against the Taholah Chitwins on Naselle’s Rueben Penttila Field.

“When we fell behind that far that quickly, I was a little concerned that we might not be able to come back all the way,” coach Doug Rogers said. “Taholah has an athletic young team which started to play together a couple of years ago as eighth- and ninth-graders. Now they are a couple of years older with that much more speed and experience and they can play a good game.”

Rogers had reason to be concerned, but once they got rolling, the Comettes proved that they had the hitting to come all the way back as they belted out 13 hits, including three for extra bases.

Senior catcher Lucy Rubio led the hit parade, going four-for-five, including a triple. Winning pitcher senior Jordan Varila had three hits, including a triple. Other Comettes’ hitters included Miranda Agee with three hits, Amanda Badger with two and Randi Magnuson with a double. Leadoff hitter Dawn Herman got on base four times and scored four times.

The first Taholah batter of the game reached base on an error and later scored. The Comettes appeared ready to come right back when they loaded the bases, but they couldn’t push a run across in the bottom of the first .

Taholah added two more runs in the second, without the benefit of a hit, when an error, a fielder’s choice and a walk, plus four stolen bases, brought two more runs across. The Comettes went down quickly in their half of the inning and Naselle trailed 3-0 after two.

The Chitwins then really put up some “crooked numbers” when they scored five times in the third inning. They made full use a double, a single, a fielder’s choice, two walks and eight steals to push the score to 8-0 after two and a half innings.

The slumbering Naselle offense woke up in the third when Herman, Badger, Rubio and Varila all singled. Those four hits, plus three stolen bases, produced three runs and they closed the gap a little, to 8-3.

Taholah was to score two more runs in the fourth, to give them a 10-3 lead. Those runs were to be the Chitwins last of the game. Herman again led off Naselle’s half of the inning, reaching on an error. She was to eventually score again, one of her four runs scored in the game.

After setting Taholah down in order in the fifth with pitcher Varila catching one pop-up and striking out two, the Comettes offense unloaded in the bottom of the fifth.

A walk, followed by Randi Magnuson’s double scored one run. A walk, four singles, followed by another walk, a hit batter and another single produced eight more runs and the Comettes had taken the lead 13-10.

With Varila’s pitching getting stronger each inning and the Comettes defense tightening up, Naselle put down six of the seven Taholah batters in the final two innings.

The Comettes added two runs in the sixth when Herman singled and eventually came around to score for the fourth time. Badger also singled and they both scored when Rubio tripled, but she was thrown out at the plate as she tried to turn it into a home run. Varila’s following triple went for naught when the run died at third with the final out.

With the Comettes holding a 15-10 lead, Varila struck out two of the three batters that she faced in the top of the seventh and the third batter was thrown out on a routine ground ball, giving the Comettes their second win of the delayed season.

The Comettes record climbed to 2-2, 1-1 in league games.

Taholah 125 200 0 10 10 2

Naselle 003 192 x 15 13 3

James (L) and Kautz; Varila (W, 1-1) and Rubio