Moses Lake drops the bomb
Moses Lake's Jayme Albrandt finishes out a tag on a Richland baserunner during the top of the sixth inning of the first game of a doubleheader. The Bombers won the game 2-1 at Larson Playfield on Thursday.<br>Brad Redford/ Columbia Basin Herald
Chiefs miss out on opportunity to knock off Richland
MOSES LAKE — Missed opportunities took Moses Lake from sweeping Richland in a doubleheader to being swept by Bombers Thursday at Larson Playfield.
Moses Lake's Heather Coulter and Richland's Stacey Ellingsworth were locked in a pitchers dual, waiting for a mistake by the other. It was Ellingsworth who came out with a 2-1 win in the first game and a 1-0 win in the second.
Coulter struck out 11 in the first game and 11 in the second, while allowing five hits and three hits respectively. Her counterpart, Ellingsworth, finished with 12 strikeouts in the first meeting and six in the second game.
"We hit (Ellingsworth) better than I thought we would," Moses Lake head coach Alan Coulter said. "She is one of the top pitchers in the Northwest and we did well against her."
The Chiefs scored a run off Ellingsworth in the bottom of the second after Mattie Zayas started a two-out rally by singling down the rightfield line. Lindsey Rossell followed with a single and Ashley Haight loaded the bases on a walk. Chelsea Allsbrook brought courtesy runner Shawnee Durbin home to tie the game at 1-1.
Moses Lake threatened in the third with two straight infield singles to put Bailey Millican and Heather Coulter on base and Jayme Albrandt moved both runners into scoring position on a one-out bunt. Again in the eighth, Millican reached base on a single to right, moved to second on a wild pitch and third on a Coulter groundout, but again, Moses Lake couldn't capitalize on the opportunity.
"We talked about this the night before last and told them Richland is human and we need to capitalize on their mistakes," Coulter said. "Unfortunately, it was the other way around."
Richland scored their first run of the first game on a two-out throwing error, then got the go-ahead run in the top of the eighth when Danielle White reached base on a error, then rounded the bases on two wild pitches.
"We are going to look at our defense and see if we can sure that up," Coulter said. "We are going to do what we need to do to make our defense better."
The Chiefs fell to an optomistic 1-3 record on the season. Coulter said two of the top three teams in the Big Nine are behind Moses Lake and are now in a position to start a winning streak.
"It doesn't look too attractive, but we will bounce back," Coulter added.