Moses Lake edges Eastmont, 9-8

MOSES LAKE — The Moses Lake High School softball team beat Eastmont High School, 9-8, Tuesday in Moses Lake.

Both sides were scoreless after two innings, but the Chiefs rattled off four runs in the bottom of the third.

After a scoreless fourth inning, Eastmont responded in the top of the fifth, capitalizing on a few errors to push in five and retake the lead.

Moses Lake scored again in the bottom of the inning to tie the game at 5-5. Both teams kept up the scoring in the sixth, bringing in three runs each.

Brenna Rangel came to the mound to pitch in the top of the seventh, surrendering nothing, with one strikeout and keeping the Eastmont offense at bay.

Rangel came to the plate in the bottom of the inning with Jazlynn Torres on third. Rangel smacked a hit down the first base line for a sacrifice and brought in the winning run.

Sidney Ries finished 3-4 from the plate for Moses Lake. Taylor Hofheins finished 2-4 with a team-high three RBIs. Raegan Hofheins finished 1-3 from the plate, including a bunt in the bottom of the sixth for a two-run home run.

Raegan Hofheins made huge plays for the Chiefs on both sides of the ball, including multiple diving catches at second base.

She talked about the rounding the bases in the bottom of the sixth, leading her team back from an 8-5 deficit. She bunted, but the throw to first sailed into right field.

“I saw the ball go past her, and I thought I’ve got to at least make third,” Raegan Hofheins said. “Then I saw my coach, my dad, waving me on and I looked at the ball and thought, I’ve got to go. Once I made it, I was pretty ecstatic.”

On defense, she said, she doesn’t like to give up on the play until the ball is dead. Raegan Hofheins said she wasn’t sure she’d make either of her diving catches, but wasn’t going to go without making an effort. She said she was a little nervous on the second diving catch, but it worked out in the end.

With seven seniors set to graduate, she said the team will definitely look different next year. But, she said she’s looking forward to building something new.

Moses Lake head coach Mike Hofheins said he thinks his squad might have gotten a little complacent after jumping ahead early, already having beaten Eastmont pretty handily on the road earlier this season. After “the wheels fell off” a bit in the fifth, Hofheins said, his team did a good recapturing that momentum.

“We played well, we had that hiccup in the fight a little bit, but we came back and had several outstanding defensive plays,” Mike Hofheins said. “Raegan had a handful of them at second that saved base­runners for us, Madi (Olsen) played well at third, CiCi (Ciarrah Knoll) played well at short, Kendall (Reffett) made a nice catch in right field and we just kept coming.”

Mike Hofheins said he told his team after the game this was all stuff to build on. After starting just a few weeks ago, the season is already winding to a close.

The Moses Lake head coach said this spring has given them a couple of opportunities. First, he said, he’s tried to have his seniors help “lay the groundwork” for the underclassmen before moving on.

Second, he said, he’s getting to see some of the younger players in tough situations and gauge how they react.

“We’re seeing a lot of promising young talent even though we’re graduating seven really good players,” Mike Hofheins said. “Our goals going into next year won’t change. We want to win the league and qualify for the state tournament and keep doing what we’re doing.”

Next up for Moses Lake is a doubleheader at home on Saturday against Warden High School before closing out the season next Tuesday in a rematch with Ephrata High School.

Casey McCarthy can be reached at cmccarthy@columbiabasinherald.com.