Red Devils break Othello state streak
SELAH, Wash. — After holding off the Grandview Greyhounds Thursday afternoon to move into the semifinals of the Central Washington Athletic Conference (CWAC) district tournament, the Othello Huskies looked primed to earn their 14th consecutive trip to the state tournament.
The Huskies rolled to a third-place finish during the CWAC regular season but Othello couldn’t find an answer for the East Valley Red Devils in Saturday’s consolation finals and for the first time in 13 years the Huskies will not play in the state tournament.
Othello found themselves in an early hole in Saturday’s district semifinal contest with Selah and the Huskies never recovered. The Vikings scored two runs in the first inning and two in the second off of Othello junior Eden Garza and the Vikings knocked off the Huskies 5-1 to clinch a trip to the state tournament.
After the Vikings dropped the Huskies into the consolation bracket, Othello met East Valley for the district’s final state spot.
Othello and East Valley played through four scoreless innings before the Red Devils got to the Huskies in the top of the fifth to take a 1-0 lead. East Valley added a pair of runs in the sixth to take a 3-0 lead.
Othello couldn’t find an answer for East Valley throughout Saturday’s consolation final and the Red Devils eliminated the Huskies from the postseason.
4A Regional Tournament
YAKIMA, Wash. — The Chiefs rallied for a 5-3 victory over Central Valley Friday afternoon but the Moses Lake girls softball team couldn’t find an answer for Columbia Basin Big Nine rival Kennewick Saturday.
Moses Lake took a 1-0 lead over Kennewick in the third inning of their regional contest.
Junior Karly Stoltman kept the Lions off balance for the majority of the game before the Lions rallied for a run in the sixth to tie the game 1-1.
The Chiefs continued to battle with the Lions in the seventh inning before Kennewick managed to score with two outs for a 2-1 victory, sending the Chiefs into the consolation bracket.
Moses Lake continued their impressive run through the 4A regional tournament, playing to a 1-1 tie with the Kamiakin Braves through five innings of their loser-out contest. However, the Braves managed to take advantage of seven Moses Lake errors and Kamiakin put up five runs in the top of the sixth inning.
Moses Lake couldn’t recover from Kamiakin’s big sixth inning and the Braves eliminated the Chiefs from the postseason with a 6-1 victory.
South Central Athletic Conference District Tournament
YAKIMA, Wash. — The Warden Cougars advanced to the semifinals of the South Central Athletic Conference district softball tournament over the weekend before running into undefeated Connell.
Despite surrendering 13 hits during Saturday’s district semifinal with the Eagles, the Cougars continued to battle before regular-season champion Connell held on for a 5-2 victory, sending the Cougars into the consolation final against River View.
With the district’s final state playoff spot on the line, River View managed to jump on the Cougars early to take a 1-0 lead. River View added a pair in the fifth to take a 3-0 advantage.
Warden fought back in the top of the sixth to pull within 3-1 but the Cougars couldn’t over come an early deficit and River View eliminated Warden from the postseason.
Warden head coach Wes Richins said he was proud of the way his team played this season.
“We lost a couple of close games to a couple of good teams,” he said. “We just came up short at the end.”