Walla Walla ends Lady Chiefs' season

RICHLAND — The Moses Lake Lady Chiefs rallied for a 7-6 extra-innings victory over the Mead Panthers to stay alive in the 4A regional softball tournament Saturday, but were then eliminated with a 4-0 loss to the Walla Walla Blue Devils.

After suffering a 7-0 defeat to eventual regional champion Shadle Park in the tournament opener Friday, the Lady Chiefs needed a win over Mead to keep their impressive playoff run going.

With the game tied at five after seven innings of play, Mead went back to the plate in the top of the eighth inning. The Chiefs retired the first two Mead hitters, but the Panthers strung together three base hits to score a run and take a 6-5 lead.

In the bottom of the eighth, Moses Lake got the break they needed when Mead made a costly error. With two outs and a runner on first, the Lady Chiefs' Sophia Garza hit a blooper over the mound that fell between the pitcher and the second baseman. Garza hustled down the line toward first, forcing the Panthers to rush the throw to the base. Garza beat the throw to first, and when the ball got past the Panthers' first baseman, the Lady Chiefs' runners advanced to second and third.

Shawnee Durbin then came to the plate and drove a liner into left field that brought in both runs and gave the Lady Chiefs a dramatic 7-6 win.

While Durbin had the big hit at the end of the game for Moses Lake and was responsible for four of Moses Lake's seven runs, Lady Chiefs' coach Dave Gregory felt his entire squad contributed to the victory.

"It was just a team effort," said Gregory when asked if he saw anyone that stood out during regional play. "They played some pretty good ball."

The two equally matched teams went back and forth throughout the contest, with the Panthers striking first. Mead scored three runs in the second inning off Moses Lake starter Vanessa Hernandez, but the Moses Lake offense came back with three runs of their own in the bottom of the second to tie the game at three.

When Mead took a 4-3 lead in the top of third, Moses Lake's Kirstin Gamboa needed just one pitch to tie the game. In the bottom half of the inning, Gamboa took the first offering from Mead's Taneesha Pounder and smacked it over the left-field fence to knot the game at four. Durbin gave Moses Lake a 5-4 lead with an RBI single in the fourth, but Mead got a two-out double in the sixth inning to tie the game at five and force extra innings.

Following the game with Mead, Moses Lake faced off with Walla Walla and Blue Devils' ace pitcher Kaela DeBroeck, who led the CBL in wins and strikeouts this season. Lady Chiefs' starter Sammy Smith matched DeBroeck in the early going, as the teams were scoreless through five innings.

Walla Walla's bats came alive in the sixth and seventh innings, as timely hitting combined with a few good bounces allowed the Blue Devils to score a pair of runs in each inning.

"We just didn't get a break," said Gregory of the Walla Walla game. "They had some bloopers fall in, and we didn't."

While the Lady Chiefs were understandably quiet after being eliminated by Walla Walla, their thoughts may have been focused on the potential of the 2008 season.

"The whole starting lineup is coming back pretty much," said Gregory. "That's the way the whole league is. It's gonna be tough next year."