East Union pitcher Kelsey Emerson had to work herself out of jam in the final inning and the senior answered the call, getting a strikeout and a groundball to end it in a 6-5 Valley Oak League win over the Weston Ranch Cougars Tuesday.

Emerson went the distance for Lancers, going into that last inning nursing a 6-3 lead. The Cougars were able to muster a late push, scoring two runs, but the Cougars would get no closer.

“Kelsey did a great job of getting us out of trouble in the seventh,” East Union head coach Brian Goulart said. “We had a comfortable lead going into the final inning, but we needed her to clutch up in the end.”

The Cougars did everything to keep themselves in it, but come costly defensive miscues late would provide the Lancers with the difference. Offensively, the Cougars got a 2 for 4 day from Miranda Holmes and an RBI triple from Rileen Romo. Romo scored three runs in the loss, while Holmes had four RBI on the day.

“Overall, it was a good game,” Weston Ranch head coach Janelle Bauer said. “But unfortunately, the last three runs they scored were on two errors from us. We came in the seventh inning and got two runs back.

“But we left bases loaded to end the game.”

Cherish Burks and Laura Gann were both 2 for 4 for the Lancers, while Jordan Vinson was 2 for 2. Burks hit a triple and came around to score.

The Lancers (6-7, 13-11) will look to close out the VOL season at .500 if they can pull off the home-home sweep of Lathrop to finish up ahead of Manteca (6-7) for fourth place in the VOL standings.