Her season was off to a regrettable start, but it was difficult for sophomore McKenna Pendergraft to be too disconcerted, considering her team’s unblemished mark.
On Thursday at D’Evelyn, the Dakota Ridge first baseman was dropped to eighth in the order in an effort to get her to stop pressing. The move made Eagles coach Dave Atencio look good.
Pendergraft clobbered a go-ahead, two-run triple to pace the surging Eagles to a convincing 9-4 road win against the Jaguars, No. 3 in Class 4A, in a cross-classification nonleague game. The Eagles, unranked to start the season in Class 5A, vaulted to 6-0.
“My teammates picked me up a lot, cheering me on throughout the whole thing,” said Pendergraft, who finished 2-for-3 with three RBIs. “I built up my confidence again and went out there and hit the ball. It’s not every day you get a hit like that.”
She did so against D’Evelyn pitcher Holly Reinke, one of the finest in 4A. Other than Pendergraft’s triple, the Eagles could have been promoting a matchmaker website with their nonstop array of singles. They finished with 12 hits.
“The big thing is that our hitting has been phenomenal all year,” said Atencio, whose team has successfully juggled three pitchers as it awaits the midseason eligibility of Green Mountain transfer Kristyn Peters. “We faced one of the top pitchers in the state and we have a lot of respect for Holly, but we set the tone by jumping on her early.”
Pendergraft’s blast to the right-center-field gap put the Eagles up 2-0, and by the fifth, they were up 9-1. Brooklynn York, Bri Hixon and Sierra Jones added two hits apiece for the Eagles while left-hander Bri Arneach picked up the win in the pitching circle.
D’Evelyn (2-1) scored three in the fifth, highlighted by Cameryn Porter’s double. But by then, it was too late for the Jaguars, who absorbed their first home loss since Sept. 24, 2009.
Dakota Ridge. . . . . . 023 040 0 – 9 12 2
D’Evelyn . . . . . . . . . . 010 030 0 – 4 7 3
Dakota Ridge (ab-r-h-rbi) – Wilhelm cf 3-0-1-1, York ss 3-2-2-0, Hixon rf 4-1-2-0, Mammenga dh 3-1-1-1, Jones c 3-2-2-1, Sharp 3b 4-1-1-1, Stead 2b 4-2-0-0, Pendergraft 1b 4-0-2-3, Garcia lf 4-0-1-1. Totals 32-9-12-8.
D’Evelyn – C. Porter ss 4-1-2-1, Day rf 4-0-0-1, McKenna 2b 3-0-1-0, Reinke p 3-1-0-0, S. Porter cf 2-0-0-0, Reid 1b 3-0-1-1, Nicholson c 3-0-1-0, Heitsman 3b 1-0-0-0, Lopez ph-3b 2-1-2-0, Wilson lf 2-1-0-0. Totals 27-4-7-3.
E – Jones 2, McKenna 2, Heitman. LOB – Dakota Ridge 7, D’Evelyn 6. 2B – C. Porter. 3B – Pendergraft, McKenna. CS – Wilhelm. SAC – York, S. Porter.
Batteries – Arneach and Jones; Reinke and Nicholson. W – Arneach (2-0). L – Reinke (2-1). HBP – Wilhelm (by Reinke), Jones (by Reinke). T – 1:50.
