SOUTH ROYALTON — It’s not often that a victorious high school softball team surrenders eight runs during an inning. Add eight errors committed by that same squad and the odds become ever longer.

Somehow escaping that situation Saturday was White River Valley, which defeated Windsor, 15-12, after having lost four of its previous five games. The hosts also walked six batters and left 10 runners on base.

“We control where we could end up in the playoffs,” said fourth-year coach John Rhodes. “Getting a home game in the first round would be a nice step up for next year.”

The Wildcats are slowly improving in a bid to recapture the glory of several seasons back. During two campaigns sandwiched around the COVID-19 pandemic, WRV was a combined 31-3 with two trips to the Vermont Division III semifinals and the 2019 title.

Following the graduation of a strong class in 2021, the Wildcats were hit with pitching injuries and went 1-16. They rose to 3-14 last season and are 5-8 during the current campaign under Rhodes, who had never coached softball before taking his current job.

Rhodes, whose previous high school coaching experience was as a Windsor baseball assistant from 1996-98, later became Norwich University’s head coach, going 56-236-1 during 10 seasons. He transitioned to becoming the Cadets’ associate head coach for baseball and a football assistant and now works as a para-educator at White River Valley, where’s he also the interim athletic director.

Rhodes’ experience and patience served him well Saturday as he maintained his poise despite the hosts going down, 9-1, during the third inning. The Wildcats’ first comeback began with a run in the bottom of that frame and eight more during the fourth for a 10-9 lead.

Windsor (5-7) took a 12-10 lead during the fifth inning but White River Valley responded with a combined five runs during its final two at-bats while blanking the visitors during their last two trips to the plate.

“We talk about just making the routine plays, about using the six inches between your head to think ahead,” said Rhodes, who plays three seniors and whose roster is devoid of juniors. “Flushing stuff and going to the next play.”

Windsor pitcher Molly Burke allowed nine hits and 15 runs. Only seven were earned, as the Yellowjackets committed five errors. She struck out seven batters and walked 10. Mackenzie Kleefisch had three hits and an RBI and Cassie Clark had two hits, including a home run, and five RBIs.

White River Valley’s Vanessa Crawford surrendered nine hits and 12 runs, only five of them earned. She struck out two batters and walked six.

“I told (Crawford) you’ve got to battle and have some grit,” Rhodes said of his sophomore hurler. “She wasn’t pitching badly, but there had been some mistakes behind her and she had to trust that (the fielders) would get better and so would she.”

WRV’s Madasin Kill and Sadie Kinsley each had two hits and an RBI as the Wildcats avenged a 10-3 loss to Windsor earlier in the week.

Tris Wykes can be reached at twykes@vnews.com.