All Aryn Grause needed was one run to settle down and find her rhythm in the circle.

"I think it helped in that first inning having Sammi (Brandstetter) hit in that first run," Grause said. "It's nice knowing your bats are going to help you out when you are struggling."

After allowing a single to Corvallis' Laura Fleck to open the game, Crescent Valley's senior pitcher found her groove - pitching seven shutout innings to carry CV to a 3-0 victory in the Mid-Willamette Conference opener for both teams.

"It was a good game," CV coach Rick Scott said. "It could have gone either way. We wanted to play good defense and pitch well."

The Raiders, who return just three starters from last season, were error-free. Last week in a loss against Central, they committed two errors in the first inning that led to two runs.

Grause, who had a torn right bicep at this time last year, limited CHS to five hits and struck out seven. She's holding off junior Kacie Melton and sophomore Nikki Peters in a battle to be CV's ace.

"It's nice to know going into games that I can expect some time," Grause said. "It's also nice to know that the pitchers behind me are pushing me every day. They want to beat me out for my spot, so it's very competitive."

The Raiders got on the board early, thanks in part to Grause. She was walked to lead off the bottom of the first, moved to second base on a wild pitch by Fleck and then to third on a groundout by Sammie Waite.

With one out, Brandstetter lofted a fly ball to center that was caught, but deep enough to allow Grause to cross home plate and give CV a 1-0 lead.

"That's what we try to do, get out and give our pitcher an early lead," Scott said. "A lot of times, that means we have to come out and play little ball. But we are trying to give our pitcher something to work with."

And one run turned out to be enough. The Spartans (0-1) couldn't muster much against Grause, even though they had their chances.

After Fleck got on base in the first inning, she moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Eliz Akinsanya and went to third on a groundout by Sami Keim. Grause, however, struck out Hayley Appleman to end the inning.

In the third, Megan Olayinka was hit by a pitch and Holly Raush singled to put runners on first and third with no outs for the Spartans.

But CV got two straight forceouts at third base. After a wild pitch allowed the runners to move to second and third, the Raiders intentionally walked Keim to load the bases, and Appleman then hit a pop fly for the third out.

"We are a young team this year and in situations like that it's tough for them to be up at the plate today," CHS coach Bridgette Overstreet said. "Their biggest problem was watching the good pitches go by them and swinging at the (bad ones)."

Cassie Lasswell led the Spartans at the plate with two hits.

The Raiders added some insurance runs in the third. Maria Barnes led off with a single and stole second. After Grause flied out, Waite singled. An error on the play allowed Barnes to score and Waite to reach third.

Waite was later caught in a rundown and tagged out by Keim, but Brandstetter singled to put a runner on with two outs. She then touched home on a double by Elizabeth Gianotti to give the Raiders a 3-0 advantage.

"I think this (win) takes a lot of stress off us," Grause said. "We've been practicing in the gym all week and I know a lot of us are like, 'Geesh, lets get these games in,' because we haven't got to play one yet. So to get one in finally, and play errorless ball, is nice."

The two teams face each other again today at 4:30 p.m. at CHS.

Crescent Valley 3, Corvallis 0

CORVALLIS 000 000 0 - 0 5 1

CRESCENT VALLEY 103 000 0 - 3 5 0

Fleck, Lasswell (4) and Keim (CHS). Grause and Gianotti. WP: Grause (1-0) LP: Fleck (0-1) 2B: Gianotti (CV), Grause (CV),

Hits: CHS 5 (Lasswell 2, Fleck, Raush, Keim) CV 5 (Gianotti 2, Barnes, Waite, Grause).

RBI: CV 2 (Brandstetter, Gianotti).