Othello softball beats Deer Park

OTHELLO - Deer Park gave the Huskies all they could handle in a regional crossover game in Othello Saturday.

At stake was a berth in the 2A State Softball Tournament this weekend in Selah. And after the final out was recorded, Othello had defended its home turf with a 2-1 win.

"Deer Park turned out to be quite a challenge for us," coach Rudy Ochoa said. "Their pitcher was very good. It took a while to get to her."

The game was scoreless until the Huskies brought two runners across the plate in the bottom of the third to go up 2-0.

Deer Park got one back in the top of the fourth, but that was all the runs the visiting team from Spokane could muster as they dropped the contest 2-1 to Othello and were eliminated from postseason play.          

"Daisy Salgado walked to lead off the third inning for us. Tori Zambrano bunted and Daisy went from first to third on the play. Kim Bullis then bunted to score Daisy, and Madison Martinez hit a single to score Tori," Ochoa said. "Deer Park's lead off hitter Ourgeldoh reached first on an error and moved to third on another error, putting runners on the corners with no outs. Ourgeldoh scored on a passed ball and the runner on first advanced to third. But Madison struck out the next three hitters to end the threat."

Martinez went the distance in the circle, striking out nine, while giving up just four hits in the game to pick up the win.

The win over Deer Park advances the Huskies to the state tournament as the No. 4 seed. Othello will face WF West in a first round match up at noon Friday at Carlon Park in Selah.