Southridge split sign of Chiefs improvement

Warden 7-11, Royal 6-1 - Quincy 11-5, Ephrata 6-3 - Othello 10-11, Toppenish 0-0

MOSES LAKE — They may be slow steps but they are advancements nonetheless.

The Moses Lake Chiefs baseball team found a way to win a tough, decisive first game against the Southridge Suns on Friday, taking a 2-1 decision in an eight-inning opener to the teams’ doubleheader.

However, the struggles they have battled all season reared their ugly heads again in the nightcap as the visiting Suns pulled away for a 12-1 five-inning victory.

Despite the split, Moses Lake (3-11, 2-4) is still in the hunt for a Big 9 Columbia Division top four playoff spot as they sit tied for fourth with Davis.

Their opening win against Southridge didn’t hurt as the teams battled through the first three innings in a 0-0 tie.

Moses Lake got on the board first in their half of the fourth on a Tanner Lowry single which brought home Dylan Signorelli for a 1-0 lead.

Southridge tied the score in the sixth off of Chiefs starter Mitch Yada, off of a sacrifice fly.

Yada went the complete eight innings, allowing only five hits, while striking out four and walking one.

The Chiefs won the contest in the eight as Matt Noyola started the rally with a one-out single and eventually his pinch-runner, Nick Laszlo advanced to third on a Matt Garza single.

A passed ball moved to Garza to second and eventually Laszlo would score the winning run on a Southridge wild pitch for the win.

“I was so pleased with the guys in how the played,” Moses Lake coach Ed McNamara said. “They battled through some tough innings with runners on and held them to no runs. We had worked this week with positive visualization and telling each other positive things and working through mistakes and getting them out of their minds by ‘flushing it’. It really worked. We still need to work on the bats but we saw probably our best pitching so far.”

In the nightcap Soutridge used a 10-run sixth inning to pull out the mercy-rule win. It was another instance in approximately a half-dozen losses that Moses Lake fell after allowing more than six runs in one inning.

“This was another great game up to the sixth,” McNamara said. “Dylan was pitching great and we got the bad inning disease again. That is one of the biggest things we are working on. Still we played 13 great innings of baseball before that inning.”

Moses Lake trailed 2-1 going into the inning.

Signorelli went five innings allowing nine runs with none of them earned. All told none of the Southridge runs were earned in the nightcap.

Warden 7-11, Royal 6-1

WARDEN — Following up a sweep at the hands of Columbia-Burbank earlier in the week, the Warden Cougars found a way to even up their South Central Athletic Conference (SCAC) East slate against an old foe.

The Cougars recorded a 7-6, 11-1 home sweep of the Royal Knights on Saturday to even their league ledger at 2-2.

Warden (8-3) won the first game with a late rally and were led by Arty Reyes’ 2-for-3 performance including two doubles while Jon Burkholder went 2-for-2 and Anthony Platas recorded a 2-for-4 outing.

Manuel Amezola recorded the win in relief.

Reyes completed the Warden sweep at the mound as he tossed a complete game, one-hitter over five innings.

Reyes also recorded 10 strikeouts as he kept the Knights (x, 2-2) at bay.

Derek Pruneda went 2-for-4 with a triple and a double while freshman Garritt Marks hit a second-inning grand slam during a five-run second inning.

“We are leaving a lot runners on the bases and until we can string some hits together to start bringing those runners in we are going to continue to be in these close games,” Warden coach Dan Caballero said.

Quincy 11-5, Ephrata  6-3

QUINCY — A six-run fifth inning sparked the host Quincy Jacks to a 11-6 win in their opener against rivals Ephrata en route to a doubleheader sweep on Saturday.

Quincy took the nightcap, with a 5-3 win.

Ephrata led 3-0 after their first at-bats but Quincy shut down the Tigers’ attack and chipped away to capture the win and the sweep.

Quincy’s Johnny Navarro recorded the win from the mound.

Othello 10-11, Toppenish 0-0

OTHELLO — The host Othello Huskies recorded two resounding shutouts as they defeated visiting Grandview 10-0 and 11-0 on Saturday.

Shon Valdez picked up the win from the mound in the opener.

Chris Brunetti went 2-for-3 with a HR and Valdez went 3-for-3 and two doubles.

In the nightcap, Othello used an eight-run fourth inning to pull away and Amando DeLeon pitched for the win.

Connor Hamilton went 2-for-3 with a homerun and four RBI to lead the Huskies offense.