Chiefs take early exit from state tournament

SPOKANE - The Chiefs set three goals for themselves at the start of the 2013 season: take first in the league, win the district title, and make an impression at the state tournament.

Moses Lake accomplished all three, but unfortunately took an earlier than anticipated exit from the big stage in Spokane.

"It was a little disappointing to get there and then not make it past the first day of competition," coach Dave Gregory said. "But I think we did as well as we could've, placing 9th out of 64 schools that took part in the tournament."

The Chiefs had a difficult row to hoe in a bracket that included defending state champion Woodinville.

But they would have to get by the always tough Bellarmine Prep in a first round match up if they expected to have an opportunity to bring the high flying Eagles back to earth.

And Moses Lake did just that in a hard fought 3-1 win over the Lions in game one of the tournament.

The Chiefs Haylie VanLaethem shut down Bellarmine in order in the top of the first inning. Hailee Bishop grounded out to start the bottom of the first for Moses Lake. Tressa Radach singled to give the Chiefs their first base runner. Then up stepped the Big Nine Offensive Player of the Year, Jazmynn Jesse, who clobbered a two-strike pitch over the left field fence to give Moses Lake an early 2-0 lead.

The score held up until Radach singled up the middle with one out in the bottom of the third to drive in Brianna Hoffman to make it 3-0 Chiefs. Bellarmine closed the gap to 3-1 in the top of the sixth on a leadoff walk, a double to center and a sacrifice fly to left field. But that was as close as the Lions would get.

VanLaethem went the distance in the circle to pick up the win.

"I thought Haylie pitched an awesome game," Gregory said. "We are really going to miss her next year."

The win advanced Moses Lake to a second round match up with Woodinville who had defeated Skyview by the same 3-1 score.

Woodinville 12

Moses Lake 2

The Chiefs didn't seem to be intimidated at the onset of the game against the defending state champions as they jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning on the strength of Jesse's second two-run home run of the tournament.

But the lead didn't hold up long as the Eagles rallied with two outs in the top of the third to tie the game 2-2. Both runs were unearned.

Woodinville took its first lead of the game in the top of the fourth, and never looked back as the Eagles scored 10 unanswered runs over the next two innings to put the game away. At least half of Woodinville's runs were unearned as Moses Lake unraveled and produce more errors in the game than hits.

VanLaethem was tagged with the loss for the Chiefs. The defeat dropped Moses Lake into the consolation bracket, which meant the Chiefs could only place as high as third in the tournament, but they would have to win out (5 games) to do so.

Tahoma 10

Moses Lake 0

The Chiefs desperately needed a win over the Bears to stay alive in postseason play. But after an uncharacteristic lopsided loss to the Eagles, Moses Lake had trouble generating any offense and was shut out by a team that didn't appear to have an edge against the Chiefs talent-wise.

"Tahoma isn't a super powerhouse team," Gregory said. "It's more of a mental game when you get to this level. Our kids played their hearts out, but we had trouble maintaining our focus and made some mistakes. We hit the ball hard at times, but couldn't put it in play."

The loss to the Bears knocked Moses Lake out of the tournament.

"The schools we played against were no pushovers," Gregory said. "We lost to Woodinville and Tahoma and they played for third and fourth place, so I feel pretty good about the effort we turned in."

The Chiefs have a few holes to plug next season as Moses Lake is losing five seniors to graduation. But the team is young and talented, so Gregory believes the program is in good shape for a few years to come.

"We have some kids who are eager to fill their spots," Gregory said. "Freshman Mikaela Francisco impressed me with her hitting in the game against Woodinville, and, another freshman Marnie Skinner came in and pitched well against Tahoma ... gave up a couple of home runs, but did a pretty good job overall under pressure. Our JV team finished 20-0, so we have some talented kids moving up. I am looking forward to seeing how it all pans out."