The Reed High softball team picked up a pair of tough non-league wins thanks to a doubleheader sweep of Crater, Ore. Saturday.

In Oregon there are six classifications for high school athletics, with 6A being the largest. Crater, of Central Point, Ore., is the three-time defending 5A state champion, but it could not find a way to steal a win at Reed. Crater and Reed battled through nine innings in Game 1 Saturday before the local squad captured a 3-2 triumph. The RHS squad captured an 8-4 Game 2 triumph.

“We love coming down here and playing,” Crater coach Chris Arnold said. “Even though we haven’t beaten Reed the last few years, the people are great and the girls are competitive. We’ve won three straight state titles so we think Coach Charles and Reed have something to do with that. Tough non-conference games like this toughen us up.”

The opener was a pitchers’ duel. Crater’s Renee Murphy and Reed’s Destinee Levesque turned away threat after threat until the Raiders broke through in the ninth.

With the game knotted at 2-2 in the bottom of inning nine, Reed’s Cori Gammon drew a walk. Levesque followed with a single that allowed Gammon to race around to third. When the Crater shortstop could not handle a throw in from the outfield cleanly and bobbled the softball to the ground, Gammon raced home for the game-winning run.

“That was good competition today and it was nice to play everybody,” Reed coach Ray Charles said. “They’re a good team and whether we won or lost, we keep getting better.”

Crater (5-5) got on the scoreboard first in the opener. Murphy doubled and scored on an Emily Medina single in the second inning.

Reed (9-2) took a 2-1 lead in the fourth. Gammon walked and walked home when Makaela Moore deposited a Murphy pitch beyond the fence in right-center field for a two-run homer.

Crater answered with a run in the top of the fifth to forge a 2-2 deadlock. Dennae Grant singled and circled the sacks for visiting Comets after a groundout and Kayla Hopkinson single.

Murphy held Reed to just four hits despite taking the pitching loss. She struck out eight, walked two and hit one en route to getting saddled with the tough-luck defeat.

“She threw a great game,” Arnold said. “Last year we came down here and she couldn’t get out of the second. She kept her composure much better today. She throws a change-up and she uesd it well today.”

Conversely, Crater got to Levesque for 10 hits, but managed just the two runs. She struck out 12 and did not walk a single Comet hitter.

The Reed offense woke up for Game 2. Crater scored first with a run in the top of the second, but Reed proceeded to push across four in its half of the second and did not trail again.

Marissa Stephens started Reed’s second-inning rally with a single. Kyndal Comphel was hit by a pitch and Hannah Martini doubled in both runners. Brooke Silva followed with a double. Martini and Silva both scored later in the inning.

Crater trimmed Reed’s lead to one with two runs in the top of the fourth after Murphy laced a two-run single.

The Comets could not get any closer. Reed got a run in the fourth when Martini reached on an error and circled the sacks. The Raiders tacked on two more in the fifth and then capped its scoring on the day when Kristy Pasley blasted a solo home run deep to left field.

“In the second game, we hit the ball,” Charles said. “Anytime you hit the ball that’s good, but we had a better approach and got good swings.”

Pasley recorded the win in the circle for Reed in Game 2. She scattered nine Comets hits in a five-strikeout, five-walk complete-game victory.

Reed returns to action Thursday when it gets back to High Desert League play, opening a three-game series against Hug. First pitch is set for 3:30 p.m.