Othello blown over, blown out
Othello pitcher Rudy Ochoa looks to the ground as Kiona-Benton's Daniel Gonzalez rounds third base after hitting a homerun in Othello Tuesday afternoon. Ki-Be's three long-balls helped them to the 10-4 win.<br>Brandon Swanson/ Columbia Basin Herald
Huskies face the wind, fall to the long ball
OTHELLO — A stiff 30 mile per hour wind sent Othello players' hats toward the left field fence and Kiona-Benton fly balls over it.
So much for home field advantage.
Ki-Be scored three in the first, two in the third and benefitted from March weather depositing a couple popouts over the fence en route to a 10-4 handling of Othello Tuesday afternoon.
Othello pitcher Rudy Ochoa ran into trouble early. In the first inning he fell behind in the count often, walking two and surrendering four singles. Ki-Be batted around and pushed three across the plate before Ochoa retired the side.
After a pain-free second inning, Ochoa ran into trouble again — this time thanks to the weather. Leadoff batter Daniel Gonzalez put a solid poke to left that should have stayed in the yard had it not been for the gusts, which pushed the ball 30 feet beyond the fence.
Ki-Be catcher Mike Mejia followed with a big popup that carried, and carried and carried. It, too, cleared the fence, but barely.
With an early lead, Ki-Be starting pitcher Jr. Gonzalez kept the ball on the ground and out of the wind. He took a perfect game into the fourth and a no-hitter into the fifth before Othello could put a rally together.
After a leadoff walk to start the fifth, Othello shortstop Eric Gomez crushed a double down the left field line. Catcher Isaiah Garza drove in a run on an error by the third baseman. A Jason Hafer single scored another and a walk loaded the bases with two outs, giving Ochoa a chance at the plate to make up for the runs he allowed on the mound.
But Garza was tagged out trying to score from third on a wild pitch, aborting the rally and leaving the score 6-2. It was as close as the Huskies would get.
Ki-Be fired back with two in the sixth and two more in the seventh on a homerun by Jr Gonzalez, again to left.
The Huskies hinted at a comeback in the bottom of the seventh thanks to a two-run shot by Garza, but could not score any more.
Garza drove in three for a Husky team that was held to just four hits. They fell to 1-3 on the season.