ROYAL CITY - It's not often you say a team is improving after losing two of three games, but that's true of Royal High softball.

The girls dropped a 16-9 game that was better than the score indicates on Friday to always tough Blaine. Then they split with a good Cashmere team on Saturday, winning 8-7 and falling 10-3. The team is 4-2, playing much better than recent years.

"All three of these games were fun to coach and enjoyable for spectators as well," coach Robyn Valdez said.

The Blaine game, played at Royal, was forced to go nine grueling innings by Royal's defense. There were diving catches by Flor Araujo and Mcdarra von Stein to shut down the Borderite offense.

"We got to see what is becoming Flor's signature move, the line drive snag/second base double play," Valdez said.

Fans also got to see some "don't quit" determination. The Knights were down 8-6 in the bottom of the seventh inning with two runners (von Stein and Araujo) on. Carmen Rodriguez blasted a bomb into the gap for a triple to send both base runners home.

Each team scored one run in the eighth inning.

In the ninth inning, the teams went to a universal tie breaker, in which the team at bat starts with a runner on second. It was a confidence booster that initiated a string of great hits for Blaine, which tallied seven runs.

The Knights were not able battle back from this deficit. However, they never gave up and fought hard all the way to the end of the inning.

Seila Jenks pitched eight innings, with seven strikeouts, six walks and no decision. Seila Jenks batted 3/4, Flor Araujo 3/5 with two doubles, Carmen Rodriguez 2/3 with three RBI and Ashley Valle 3/5.

The first Cashmere game was another battle. The Knights were up 8-2 when Cashmere came up for its last at bat.

In Jenks, the Knights have only one upper level pitcher. After six tough innings, the Bulldogs adjusted to her in the seventh, but they didn't beat her.

"Our outfielders got a lot of action today and each had a minimum of two catches between both games," Valdez said. "Our middle infielders stole the show once again with line drive snags and diving catches."

Araujo batted 3/4 with two doubles, and Kailee Harris went 3/4 with two RBI.

In the second game, Royal had a hard time getting runners across the plate. There were at least four close play that didn't go Royal's way.

"It seemed that, no matter how hard our girls hit the ball, there was always a defender in the way," Valdez said. "I'm proud that even though nothing seemed to be going the way we wanted it to, the girls kept their heads up and gave everything they had all the way until the last out."

"I have to give props to Seila Jenks, who pitched all seven innings of both games," Valdez added. "Twenty-three innings in two days is a lot for any pitcher but, when you consider the scores of these games, it really adds a new dimension to that figure. It was amazing to see her teammates working harder knowing how exhausted she was.

Araujo batted 2/3 with two doubles, making her 5/7 for the day with four doubles. Kayla Smith and von Stein had RBI.