Chiefs go bananas with another split

EAST WENATCHEE — There is no icing, no cherry, and definitely no Ben and Jerry’s with this case of bananas.

The Moses Lake High Lake Chiefs softball team settled for another head-scratching split on Tuesday as they took the second game at Eastmont, 6-2, to rebound from a 9-8 loss in the opening game of the teams’ doubleheader.

“Yep…another split,” Moses Lake coach Dave Gregory said.

In the nightcap Chiefs’ ace Karly Stoltman pitched a complete game with only one earned run on three hits with nine strikeouts and only one walked batter.

“She pitched a great game and was really hitting her spots,” Gregory said. “She’s our ace and hopefully this will get her over the hump. She really needed the confidence boost because we really need her. She really got back to striking out people like she did in the past.”

Lacey Padilla helped Moses Lake (5-5) jump to a 5-0 lead after two innings with her 4-for-4 performance, including one double and an RBI, and the Chiefs recorded 11 hits to pull out the win and salvage the split.

“Lacey has been doing it all year,” Gregory said. “Lacey hasn’t had a bad outing yet. The double she hit would have been out at our place. It was a shot.”

Marina Rubio went 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI while Chiefs teammate Jessica McIntyre completed a 2-for-4 with an RBI.

In the opener, Moses Lake fell behind 7-3 after two innings and 9-4 after five innings before putting together a furious sixth-inning rally.

The Chiefs came back following a rough outing for starting freshman pitcher Haley VanLaethem.

“We did fight back but I left my little young pitcher a little too long,” Gregory said. “She’s really coming along and learning a lot and is a great kid. She just needs to learn how to pitch to some of these older kids since some things she does only worked well against younger players. Still, that’s one thing about us that we haven’t given up at all this year and I am pleased with that.”

Padilla went 2-for-5 with a double and an RBI, Tasha Gentry went 1-for-3 with two runs knocked in, and Katie Martinez finished 2-for-4 with an RBI.

“We’ve got Davis on Friday and we need to just keep hitting the ball and keep intense,” Gregory said. “All year its come down to pitching and we can win with them throwing to the target. We really do have the ability with our pitchers they just need to pick up their intensity a little bit and start showing how good they are.”

Ephrata 4, Chelan 3

CHELAN — A two-run seventh inning provided the Ephrata Lady Tigers with the margin they needed in a 4-3 win at Chelan last night.

Skyler Lund pitched a complete game for the win and helped herself at the plate with a double.

Kristina Allen went 2-for-2 and Kayla Brissey and Chelsea Hubbard each recorded a single to lead Ephrata’s offense as they move to 3-5 on the season.