ACH girls softball takes second

Madline Isaak delivers the pitch to a Dayton batter in the top of the second inning.

Warriors relief pitcher Juliana Hughes puts the tag a Dayton Bulldog runner who was trying to score in the top of the fourth inning in game one of the state tournament in Yakima Friday.

by Bob Kirkpatrick & Herald Sports Editor
| May 30, 2012 6:05 AM

Warriors relief pitcher Juliana Hughes puts the tag a Dayton Bulldog runner who was trying to score in the top of the fourth inning in game one of the state tournament in Yakima Friday.

YAKIMA - The Almira/Coulee-Hartline (ACH) softball team came up one win shy of its goal Saturday, as the Warriors lost to Colton for the second year in a row in the State 1B Championship game.

ACH breezed through its first game at the Gateway Sports Complex in Yakima as they ran roughshod on the Rangers from Quilcene 12-2. The Warriors turned back a determined Touchet team 5-4 in game two, then lost to their nemesis from Colton High School 5-2 for all the marbles and bragging rights for the year in game three.

ACH 13

Quilcene 2

ACH jumped out to a 4-0 lead after the first inning of play. The Warrior hung another two runs on the board to make it 6-0 in the top of the third. The Rangers got a run back in the bottom of the inning to close to 6-1. Both teams brought a run across the plate fourth inning to stretch the score to 7-2.

ACH blew the game wide open with five runs in the top of the fifth to win going away as the game was shortened by the 10-run mercy rule.

ACH 5

Touchet 4

The Warriors kept things rolling in game two of the tournament as the took a 4-2 lead at the end of the third inning. The Indians put two more runs on the board in the top of the fifth to tie the game 4-4. ACH responded with a run in the bottom of the inning to go back up by one, 5-4. Touchet failed to produce a run in its last two at bats and dropped the contest. The win put the Warriors in the championship game against Colton Saturday.

Colton 5

ACH 2

The Warriors were out for revenge in the game against the Wildcats as they were turned back 10-8 by Colton in the championship game in 2011.

Colton took a 1-0 lead in Saturdays final. But ACH answered back with two runs in the bottom of the second to go up 2-1.

The lead held up until the Wildcats brought two runs across the plate in the top of the fifth to retake the lead 3-2. Colton added two more in the top of the sixth to stretch the score to 5-2 to record the win, and give the Wildcats their fourth straight title.