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Less than 24 hours removed from suffering a first loss of the season, Cascade Christian’s baseball team was able to bounce back with a 7-2 win over La Pine at Lithia & Driveway Fields Thursday afternoon.

The second-ranked Challengers took a little time to get going but scored five two-out runs in the fourth inning to separate from the Hawks on Day 2 of the Challenger Classic.

Cascade Christian (6-1) had lost 4-1 to Warrenton late Wednesday night to open the tournament.

“I’m just proud of the guys bouncing back,” said Cascade Christian head coach Kevin Shafer, whose team was the Class 3A state runner-up last year. “We knew we weren’t going to go undefeated, so it’s just kind of about how we handle it. Each year is different.”

“Last year, we lose a game and we have a bunch of veteran guys and experienced guys that kind of know how to handle that and bounce back,” he added. “Now, we’ve got three freshmen that play for us consistently and two guys that are playing their first varsity baseball for us as a program, so having that little bit of a setback but being able to bounce back and compete was really good to see from our guys.”

Bryson Walker provided a spark Thursday with an inside-the-park home run to lead off the third inning, then C.J. Bonner doubled and eventually scored on a wild pitch to tie the game at 2-all.

With two outs and one runner on in the fourth, Bonner again ripped a double to plate the go-ahead run, and a series of walks, hit batters, wild pitches and errors allowed the Challengers to keep chipping away before Grady Sickler supplied a capper to the outburst with an RBI triple.

“Even though today was a little bit of a slow start, I thought our at-bats were really good and I thought that we kind of grinded them out,” said Shafer.

“Our biggest thing this spring has been strikeouts,” he added. “We struck out 10 times (against Warrenton) and it’s something that if we ain’t putting the ball in play, there’s no pressure on the defense to make plays.”

Jack Knips allowed two hits with two walks and two strikeouts in three scoreless innings of relief to pick up the pitching victory, and Bonner pitched a perfect final frame. Ashton Moody got the start against La Pine (4-3) and allowed three hits with two walks and three strikeouts in three innings.

“The biggest positive of today was getting Ashton Moody back on the mound,” said Shafer. “He hasn’t thrown for us yet this spring and he ended up going 60 pitches and did a great job. Hopefully, that’s something that will continue.”

ARROWHEAD CHRISTIAN 8, SOUTH MEDFORD 1: At Goodyear, Ariz., Grady McQuillan singled home Cooper Mitchell in the top of the first inning but that would be one of only three hits on the day by South Medford at the Coach Bob Invitational.

Tristan Mallari and Owen Leavens had the only other hits for the Panthers (3-4).

Devin Michels drove in three runs and Moses Trejo had a two-run double to lead Arrowhead Christian (7-7) of Redlands, California.

PHOENIX 10, NORTH VALLEY 4, 6 inn.: At Murphy, Phoenix pounded out seven runs in the top of the second inning and Karver Wolowicz supplied a solid relief effort to boost the Pirates to a six-inning win in the Hidden Valley Tournament.

Chris Phillips went 3-for-4 with two RBIs and Jackson Shilts was 2-for-4 with one run, two RBIs and two stolen bases for Phoenix (3-4). Ryan Watts reached base four times with three walks and one hit, scored twice and had two stolen bases, while Kayden Sousa went 2-for-4 with one RBI.

Wolowicz came on in relief with no outs and the bases loaded in the second inning and limited the damage to finish with four hits allowed with four strikeouts, no walks and one hit batter.