SMITHFIELD—After blowing out Valley rival Logan in the first meeting between the two teams, Sky View found the going much tougher the second time around. Grizzly ace Michelle Einzinger struck out 12 batters and senior catcher (and former Bobcat) Melissa Curtis went 3-for-4 from the plate to lead Logan to a 7-5 victory Thursday.

Logan (3-7) set the tone early on when Curtis—the Grizzly’s lead-off batter—got on base with a single. Two batters later, Curtis scored on an RBI single from Jamie Peterson to give the visitor’s an early lead.

“They finally did what we’d been expecting them to do all year—they hit the ball,” said Logan head coach Staycee Flygare. “They just came into the game with some confidence, Curtis started them off with a rip and I think that just gave them a little bit of momentum.”

The Bobcats (3-7), however, would respond quickly. A wild pitch allowed Shakiah Sattern to get on base and then a single by Maury Beorchia had Sky View ready to strike. A miscommunication between Curtis and the Logan shortstop led to an error and both runners scored to put the Cats on top, 2-1.

Enter Logan’s senior ace.

Einzinger shut down the Bobcat bats, as the home team struggled to find any sort of rhythm. Meanwhile, SV struggled from the mound as wild pitches and stolen bases led to easy runs for the Grizzlies.

Curtis jump-started Logan again in the third, opening the inning with a double down the third base line. The veteran catcher was able to steal home later in the inning and the Grizzlies tacked on two more runs as they began to build a lead they would never relinquish.

“I think what kind of hurt was taking the lead in the first and then going one-two-three in the second, third and fourth innings,” said SV head coach Shane Jones. “It allowed them (Logan) to get some momentum back and then they just did a good job of hitting the ball hard. We put balls up in the zone a little bit and they hit the ball hard today—probably the best I’ve seen Logan hit a ball.”

In the top of the fifth inning, the Grizzlies continued to pour it on. Peterson connected on a two-run double and then stole home on another wild pitch to give Logan its biggest lead of the game at 7-2.

Despite the big deficit, the Bobcats weren’t about to throw in the towel just yet. Senior Sara Somers scored McKenna Vaughn with an RBI single to give the Cats some momentum—momentum that they would carry into the following inning.

“We never try to give up on our games, we come back,” Somers said. “We’re good at coming back.”

After holding the Grizzlies scoreless in the top of the sixth inning, the Bobcats exploded in the bottom of the sixth. Behind the play of Dannika Webb, Sky View scored two runs on three hits to pull within two of Logan, 7-5.

The Bobcats, though, would get no closer. Jessica Pickett stopped the Grizzlies from allowing anymore runs in the seventh, but Einzinger regained her composure and tallied her final two strikeouts in the bottom of the seventh to crush any hope of a comeback.

“I think mostly we got our bats going more than anything,” said the Logan Ace when asked what the difference was from the last time the Grizzlies played SV. “It just helps me pitch with more confidence to know that my team is backing me up.”

Picket pitched two and two-thirds innings after replacing Sattern who pitched the first five and one-third innings. The Bobcat pitchers only combined for four strikeouts compared to Einzinger’s 12.

“I hope our pitchers realize they can’t give in,” Jones said. “I thought pitching wise we didn’t do a very good job hitting corners. We were either down the middle or we had too many wild pitches.”

All told, Sky View scored five runs on five hits while the Grizzlies tallied seven runs on eight hits.