The Red Raiders scored on a botched rundown in the top of the eighth inning and then turned a double play, cutting down the would-be tying run at the plate in the bottom half of the frame to beat non-league Frewsburg, 5-4, in extra innings Wednesday at the Robert H. Jackson Sports Complex.

“We’ve been indoors. As nice as it is … the ball bounces and you get into some bad habits,” Jamestown coach Bill Canfield said. “We’ve talked all week about fighting off those bad habits, staying down on the dirt. … We’re trying to eliminate some mental mistakes that have plagued us in the past.”

With one out in the top of the eighth inning, Jamestown’s Kaidynce Walker slapped a 2-2 pitch down the left-field line for a triple, but was cut down at the plate when Brooke Soldano grounded back to Bears pitcher MaKena Adams, who threw Walker out at home. Soldano went to second on a wild pitch and then tried to score on MacKenzie McWilliams’ single to center field. Frewsburg quickly got the ball back into the infield and Soldano was caught between third base and home, but a throw was eventually dropped at the plate allowing the sophomore left fielder to score the go-ahead run.

“Brooke Soldano, who hadn’t come out in the past, gets herself in a bad situation, but doesn’t give up on the play. She outruns the hotbox and gets the winning run for us,” Canfield said. “That’s what we are trying to preach to them. Everybody is going to have their turn at a different spot. We have to be willing to keep fighting, keep playing, not give up on a play and not mentally give up on ourselves.”

Frewsburg first baseman Claire Garvey awaits a throw during non-league action against Jamestown on Wednesday at the Robert H. Jackson Sports Complex. P-J photo by Valory S. Isaacson

In the bottom half of the inning, the Bears’ Jessica Moll singled to right field with one out and moved to second on a walk to Kiah Johnson. Kaitlyn Blanchard then grounded to second baseman Emma Weng, who tagged out Johnson for the second out and tried to turn the double play on Blanchard, who beat the throw to first. Moll, running on the play, tried to score all the way from second, but first baseman Karleigh Haines’ throw to catcher Kyla Walker was in time to catch Moll for the final out.

“Olivia Gates, although she is a 10th-grader, this is her third year on varsity. … She’s very even-keeled. She’s a very confident young lady,” Canfield said of his young pitcher. “With her there, I knew that she wasn’t going to give in, but you wonder about the other younger girls behind her looking at her for leadership. She was great. She really buckled down and fought through it.”

Frewsburg forced the extra inning with a three-run bottom of the seventh inning. Johnson and Blanchard walked to open the inning before they moved up on a wild pitch and Johnson scored on an errant throw. Blanchard then scored on Olivia Lynn’s sacrifice fly with one out before Ayla Bragg hit her second home run of the day to center field on the first pitch she saw to tie the game at 4.

“I think it’s great for the kids that we went down 4-1 and we had the resiliency to come back and tie it up,” Frewsburg coach Jon Blanchard said. “In the seventh, we would’ve been out, but a mistake here and there instead of a bounce the other way we would’ve won it.”

The Red Raiders put together a three-run inning of their own to take the lead in the top of the sixth. Gates drove an 0-1 pitch to deep left field with one out to tie the game at 1 before some sloppy Bears’ defense allowed the Red Raiders to add on. Weng singled to right field and went all the way to third on an error with one out. Wilmari Guzman then walked and stole second with Kyla Walker at the plate.

“It’s one thing to hit it off of a machine, but it’s another to start picking up the motion,” Canfield said. “The top of the order, I was pretty confident in.”

Frewsburg then attempted to pick Weng off third base, but the throw went into right field allowing both runners to score. Adams then induced a grounder for the second out before Kaidynce Walker walked, took second on a passed ball and came around to score on Soldano’s RBI single. McWilliams followed with a single, but Adams got a flyout to center field to end the threat.

“We took some chances on some plays that maybe we wouldn’t have later in the season,” Coach Blanchard said. “You have to see what your defense can do.”

The Bears scored the first run of the day in the bottom of the fourth inning when Bragg homered to left-center field on an 0-1 pitch with one out. Adams followed with a double to center field, but Gates induced a grounder to first before a three-pitch strikeout with two runners on ended the inning.

“She had been working really hard in the offseason,” Coach Blanchard said. “It showed, she hit the ball hard.”

NOTES: Blanchard tripled and stole a base for the Bears. … Guzman picked up Jamestown’s first hit with a single in the fourth. … Adams struck out 11 for Frewsburg while Gates struck out nine for Jamestown.