Lady Vikings fall to Spokane

MOSES LAKE — A close, game one loss, was followed by another large defeat in a doubleheader for the Big Bend Community College Lady Vikings softball team on Tuesday afternoon.

Big Bend fell 6-3 and 9-1 to Spokane Community College to suffer their third consecutive home doubleheader sweep.

It was also the third straight time they followed up a close loss with a larger one.

“I really don’t know why it happens,” Big Bend coach Jeremy Iverson said. “We’ve tried a few different things but we just need to keep working on focus since our mental let down seems to be in the second game. We do have a young team so maybe it’s a tough tough to get to it. But I feel like its an excuse because I feel that they can play and we’re just not getting it done.”

In the first game Amanda Martin went 3-for-4 and Angelica Castaneda went 2-for-3 with a double to lead the Big Bend offense.

Spokane led 4-1 in the bottom of the fifth before Big Bend (4-22, 2-12) scored two in their half of the inning to cut the deficit to 4-3.

However the visiting Sasquatch got one run across in each of the next two innings to hold the Lady Vikings at bay.

“It was a good game and we played well,” Iverson said. “We had a couple more errors at key times that led them score some key runs and that was the difference.”

Brooke Vincent pitched a complete game, giving up four earned runs while striking out three and walking two in the loss.

“Brooke pitched very well,” Iverson said. “She did a fantastic job and was just hitting her spots. She had it down.”

In the second game, Spokane scored all their runs in the four inning and Big Bend could only muster one of their own in their half of the frame and couldn’t make a bigger dent in the deficit.

“We were doing great through the first three innings but then they blew up,” Iverson said. “Their hits were just falling in and we made one error that kept it going at one key spot. We just couldn’t get a stop. They had a few hits, but it was seeing-eye ground balls and bleeders mostly.”

Brittany Miller went 2-for-2 while Vincent knocked out a double to lead the Big Bend offense.

Despite the rough patch, Iverson is feeling strongly about his squad.

“They show up ready to go every day and keep practicing,” Iverson said. “They keep working hard and that's been a huge positive.”