It was a classic combination of long ball and small ball.

The suddenly surging Washington girls used both Thursday night to pull out a comeback 2-1 win over Kennedy in the nightcap of their softball doubleheader at cozy Franklin Field.

In a game of errors, the Cougars coasted 5-1 in the opener.

Kennedy jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the second game, too, when Tanner Rathjens singled to left at the to of the first inning to knock home Lauren Kubovec.

From then on, it was a pitcher’s duel between Kennedy senior Taylor Sohn and Washington freshman Payton Bruner.

Neither team mounted any sort of threat until Warrior junior Bria Lenten laced a triple to right field with one out in the sixth.  The slick-fielding infielder leads Washington with a .418 average and an on-base percentage approaching .500.

Helping her own cause, Bruner brought Lenten home on a long sacrifice fly to tie the score at 1-1.

That’s when the action started.

After Kennedy opened the seventh with two routine ground balls to second, the Cougars loaded the bases on a throwing error, an interference call on the Warrior catcher and a sharp single to center by Tianna Drahn.

Kubovec, who had four hits, popped out to end the rally.

Washington started its seventh with a pop-out, as well, but eighth grader Emily Oler reached base on an infield hit to deep short.

Senior Megan Jonas, who had scored the Warriors’ only run in the first game on a single and three straight wild pitches, beat out a bunt to put runners on first and second.

Washington Coach Fanaye Wooldrik signaled eighth grader Alanna Arrington to do the same.

“They had a little trouble fielding the first one,” Wooldrik said. “Alanna is pretty speedy. And we had our best hitters coming up if we could get a runner on third.”

Arrington’s  bunt down the third base line was picture perfect. And in her haste to make the out,  Cougar fielder Rathjens threw the ball over the first baseman’s head.

“I was running as fast as I could,” Arrington said. “When I saw the first baseman trying to jump for the ball, I took off to second.”

She didn’t realized she’d brought home the winning run until she was on second base.

“We practice bunting every day,” Wooldrik said. “Tonight, we got two very timely ones down in a pressure situation.”

With the win, the Warriors (10-22, 5-17) have won four of their last six games and eight of their last 13. They started  the season 0-8.

“It feels great,” said Wooldrik, “to win a close one for a change.”

The Cougars, meantime, rode the strong arm of sophomore Madeline Crist to win the opener.

Thanks to two Washington errors with two outs, they banged out four runs in the second inning and then added an insurance run in the fourth.

Kubovec, who started the four-run rally as Kennedy batted around, said it felt good to get off to a fast start.

“Our bats were pretty hot,” she said.

And Crist, who struck our three and walked our in the complete game victory, said it helped settle her down.

“It’s a fun way to play the game when you get ahead early,” she noted. “I was getting on top of the count all night and mixing my speeds pretty well.”

For Kennedy (9-19, 6-14), it was a night of contrasts.

“In the first game, we came out swinging and put the ball in play,” said Coach Katie Bova. “We were moving people around.

“In the second game, our bats kind of fell short. You can’t win many games scoring one run.”

GAME 1

KENNEDY (5): Drahn, 5 1 2 1, Kubovec, 5 0 3 1, Hamilton, 5 0 2 1, Rathjens, 4 0 0 0, McKinnon, 2 0 1 0, Coker, 4 1 1 0, Harberts, 3 0 2 1, Steinke, 4 1 0 0, Sohn, 4 1 2 0, Hargens, 0 1 0 0. Totals 36 5 13 4.

WASHINGTON (1): Lenten, 3 0 0 0, K.Peterson, 4 0 0 0, Brunner, 2 0 1 0, D.Riley, 3 0 0 0, A.Riley, 3 0 0 0, Jonas, 1 1 1 0, Oler, 3 0 1 0, Arrington, 1 0 0 0, C.Peterson, 2 0 1 0, Packingham, 2 0 0 0. Totals 24 1 4 0.

Kennedy      040 100 0 - 5 13 2
Washington 010 000 0 - 1  4 4

W-Crist. L-C.Peterson. 2B-Coker, Brunner, Oler.

GAME 2

KENNEDY (1): Drahn, 4 0 2 0, Kubovec, 4 1 1 0, Hamilton, 3 0 1 0, Rathjens, 3 0 1 1, McKinnon, 3 0 0 0, Coker, 3 0 0 0, Harberts, 3 0 1 0, Steinke, 3 0 0 0, Sohn, 2 0 0 0. Totals 28 1 6 1.

WASHINGTON (2): Lenten, 3 1 1 0, K.Peterson, 3 0 2 0, Brunner, 3 0 1 0, D.Riley 3 0 0 0, A.Riley, 3 0 0 0, Oler, 3 1 1 0, Jonas, 2 0 0 0, Arrington, 2 0 0 1, C.Peterson, 2 0 0 0. Totals 24 2 5 1.

Kennedy      100 000 0 - 1 6 2
Washington 000 001 1 - 2 5 2

W-Brunner. L-Sohn. 2B-Hamilton. 3B-Lenten.