Lady Chiefs' softball will tangle with Shadle Park

WALLA WALLA — For the last month or so, the Moses Lake Lady Chiefs softball team has been playing like a state tournament-caliber squad.

That's straight from the lips of head coach Dave Gregory, who said the team has lost just one game in that span. Last weekend at the district tournament in Walla Walla, the Lady Chiefs knocked off the host Blue Devils 2-1 and nabbed the third seed to this weekend's regional tourney in Richland.

"We struggled early this year but they've kind of come together," Gregory said. "We're playing good defense right now and our pitching's coming along. We just need to get the bats going."

Gregory's statements certainly rang true in Saturday's two district contests. The fourth-seeded Chiefs opened against the Columbia Basin League champion Richland Bombers and lost 1-0. Moses Lake pitcher Sammie Smith befuddled the Bombers, holding them to five hits and Richland's only run, which came in the fourth inning, was unearned.

But the Lady Chiefs didn't muster many chances either against Richland hurler Talissa Huntsman. Shawnee Durbin had two of Moses Lake's three base hits.

"It was a pretty good pitching duel there," Gregory said. "They say in a good softball game you've only got about two chances to score and if you don't take advantage of it you're probably going to end up on the losing end of it."

Needing to beat Walla Walla later that day to keep its season alive, Moses Lake got a gutsy pitching performance from Vanessa Hernandez. The Blue Devils picked up 12 hits against her, but only dented the scoreboard once in the second inning.

Trailing 1-0 in the fifth, the Lady Chiefs found their hitting strokes against Walla Walla's Kaela DeBroeck, perhaps the league's best pitcher in Gregory's eyes. Alexis Ballinger delivered a key RBI single and Moses Lake suddenly had the lead.

The Lady Chiefs' record now stands at 12-10 overall. They open regionals Friday at 6 p.m. against nationally-ranked Shadle Park, which features pitching phenom Samantha Skillingstad. University handed Shadle its first loss of the season Tuesday night in the District 8 championship game.

"She's by far the best pitcher in the state, the way I understand it," Gregory said of Skillingstad. "We're the underdogs — there's no doubt about it."

The regional tournament is a double-elimination format. Friday evening's winners play Saturday at 10 a.m.; the losers play at noon. The top three teams in Richland head to the state tournament, May 25-26 in Tacoma.