3 Basin softball teams across Highway 17 have become state tournament fixtures

GRANT AND ADAMS COUNTIES — On the final weekend of May, the best softball teams throughout the six classifications in Washington high school sports gather across various sites to compete for a state championship.

Only the best teams make it.

Class 2B through 4A is a 16-team bracket, while 1B features eight teams.

So it must be difficult for programs outside of a large metropolitan area to receive berths year after year, correct?

Not quite.

Along about a 30-mile stretch of highway in the middle of the Columbia Basin, three programs have becomes fixtures at state.

There’s Moses Lake, the 4A titan that has reached the 4A state tournament five years running. Warden, the rural town of less than 3,000 that floats back and forth from 2B to 1A. And, of course, the big dogs — the Othello Huskies, winners of four 2A state championships since 1999.

Friday, all three will take aim at another state tournament run from Spokane, to Richland, to Selah.

Moses Lake first-year coach Mike Hofheins knows the softball tradition in the Columbia Basin all too well, having spent nine years teaching in Othello. Rudy Ochoa, the head coach at Othello in his 22nd year, has amassed over 400 wins.

“If I can even be in the same paragraph with him it’s quite an honor,” Hofheins said.

Hofheins has a ways to go to catch Ochoa, but he’s on the right track. The Chiefs finished 17-4 overall and 16-2 in the Columbia Basin Big Nine to win their fifth league championship in a row. More, freshman Savannah Ashley’s walk-off single against Eastmont helped Moses Lake capture its fifth consecutive district championship.

For Moses Lake, as well as Warden and Othello, strong youth programs and summer teams are the key to sustained success when the pool of athletes is smaller than larger communities west of the Cascade range.

Saturday’s district championship wasn’t the first big game Ashley had played in.

“Most of my girls have played hundreds of softball games,” Hofheins said. “Playing is playing. When they have all that experience under their belt they don’t flinch in a big spot.”

The Chiefs finished fourth in 1999 so, in anticipation of Friday’s tournament opener against Battle Ground, Hofheins dusted off the old pinstriped jerseys for practice this week to give his team some mojo.

Regardless of classification, Warden keeps playing deep into May. The Cougars recently finished district runner-up to advance to their eighth consecutive state tournament — an even four each at 2B and 1A.

Warden was as close as it had ever been to taking home a state tournament trophy in 2016, finishing fifth. That year, all-state pitcher Aaliyah Enriquez helped the Cougars cap an undefeated regular season. This year, Enriquez was the winning pitcher for Wenatchee Valley in the NWAC Softball Championship. Fellow Warden graduate Lexy Pruneda was 2-for-4 with three RBI in the title game as the Knights finished their miraculous run of seven wins in a row to beat Douglas 12-6 for the championship. More, Warden alum Allycia Gonzales was also on the championship squad, but was sidelined due to a finger injury.

At the university level, shortstop Iris Rodriguez is a senior on a Corban team that has reached the NAIA Softball World Series.

It’s those kind of players that help build a culture of winning at Warden.

No. 1 pitcher Jizelle Pruneda learned from Enriquez and followed her as league MVP in 2017.

“I think our younger girls see those tremendous athletes and dedicated softball players go through and idolize those girls,” Richins said. “Just extremely proud to have been associated with them... In a small community it’s a big deal.”

Now, Pruneda is the leader of a new generation of Cougars that includes five freshmen or sophomores that were all-league in 2017.

Richins put his team’s sustained success on three things: consistency, youth programs and the community. Randy Wright, the coach of the Heat fast-pitch program for over a decade, assists Richins. Melissa Gonzales, mother of Allycia, coaches Warden’s JV.

It’s that nucleus, along with strong community support, that keeps the Cougars in contention year after year.

Old reliable Othello has placed in four straight 2A state tournaments, which culminated in a championship last season.

A strong contingent of that title team graduated, but the Huskies still have Dominique Martinez and Mariah DeLeon. Martinez pitched every inning of the 2016 state tournament and she’s back for one more run at Carlon Park. DeLeon hit a two-run double to give Othello a 3-1 lead over Fife in last year’s state championship game.

Although the Huskies enter as a No. 3 seed, a dominant pitcher paired with her clutch catcher can swing any game.

“They’re always so good by this time of year,” Richins said of Othello.