Long day ends with longer faces for Chiefs

WENATCHEE — A long day spent at the Walla Walla Sports Complex ended up in disappointment for the Moses Lake Chiefs’ softball.

A day that started at noon didn’t get over until approximately 7:30 p.m. and the Chiefs would fall one game short of moving on to the Regional Tournament next week.

Moses Lake (14-10), after winning 12-1 in their consolation, loser-out contest against Eastmont, dropped consecutive games to Wenatchee (10-4) and Kamiakin (7-6 in 9 innings), to have their season come to an end.

“There were six really, equal-ability teams in Wenatchee,” Moses Lake coach Dave Gregory said. “It just turned out we were the sixth team.”

The top five teams advanced to Regionals.

In their win against Eastmont, Moses Lake’s offense was on fire, scoring four runs in the first inning, two runs in the third, and five runs in the fifth to clinch the mercy-rule win.

The Chiefs pounded out 13 hits and committed no errors.

Lacey Padilla and Candice Vela each went 2-for-3, and Jessica McIntyre finished 3-for-3.

Pitcher Karly Stoltman recorded the win with a 3-hit performance which included four strikeouts.

With the win, Moses Lake moved on to play Wenatchee and fell 10-4.

The host Panthers struck early and often with four runs in the first inning and three runs in the second inning to build an early 7-3 lead.

Moses Lake scored three runs in the second inning to cut the gap 4-3 but the Wenatchee response but the Chiefs’ momentum on pause and long enough to hold on to the win.

Against Kamiakin, the Chiefs battled back-and-forth before falling in nine innings and only a few plays away from staying alive for another weekend.

Moses Lake struck first on a Tasha Gentry two-run homerun and an early 2-0 lead in the first inning.

Kamiakin scored once in their half of the frame but Moses Lake came out in the second and got a Kylie Martinez two-out double that was followed up by a Padilla RBI double and a 3-1 lead.

Vela then singled home Padilla and the inning ended with Moses Lake up 4-1.

In the bottom of the third Kamiakin scored twice to inch closer at 4-3 but the Chiefs had another response.

In the fifth, Cassandra Guerrero singled and with two outs a McIntyre single moved her to third.

Marina Rubio then singled in Guerrero making the score 5-3.

But Kamiakin wouldn’t go away and tied the score 5-5 in the bottom half of the frame.

Neither team scored in the sixth, seventh, or eighth innings, setting up a dramatic finish.

With the tiebreaker in play, Padilla started on second base, moved to third on a wild pitch and would score one out later on a Guerrero squeeze bunt to put the Chiefs up 6-5.

In the bottom half of the inning, Kamiakin would get the bases load with two outs and eventually take the win with a game-ending double to knock the Chiefs out.

“The kids played hard all day in the heat,” Gregory said. “It’s too bad we had to end it on a heart breaker.”

Warden secures No. 2 seed

BENTON CITY — A battle for second place between the Warden Lady Cougars and the host Kiona-Benton softball squads turned into another rite of passage for the visitors.

Warden held on for a 11-7, 6-5 sweep of the doubleheader on Saturday to clinch the No. 2 seed out of the South Central Athletic Conference (East), behind River View.

Warden (14-6) will host their opening District playoff game Thursday at 4 p.m. against Naches Valley.

Districts are a double-elimination tournament with the top four teams earning Class 1A state playoff bids.

“We don’t know much about Naches, but know that the tournament will be tough,” Warden coach Wes Richins said. “We need to play well and together to punch our ticket to state.”

Against Ki-Be, Warden scored six times in the first inning and held on from there.

Tawney Gonsalez hit a two-run homerun and finished 2-for-4, while Stacee Villarreal went 2-for-4 as did Iris Rodriguez who added a double.

Randi Wright earned the win with a five-strikeout performance.

Having clinched the second seed,  Warden went for the sweep and fell behind early 4-0 before nipping away at the deficit.

A four-run fourth inning helped Warden jump back in front and they held off a late Ki-Be rally.

Wright had six strikeouts with no walks to nail down the sweep.

Bianca Hernandez finished 2-for-3 with a double.

“It was a good team effort,” Richins said. “We asked kids to step it up and they produced. It’s nice when the bottom of your lineup can come through with good at bats.”