Columbia Basin teams measure up

Now that it is nearly halfway through the spring sports season, let’s see how the teams in the Columbia Basin are doing.

As of April 13, the only undefeated teams are all fastpitch teams. Those teams are Othello (11-0), Almira/Coulee-Hartline (8-0) and Royal (5-0).

Leading the pack for baseball is Moses Lake with a record of 8-1, with Royal following close behind 6-1. ACH comes in third with 4-1 overall.

In boys soccer, the top three are Wahluke at 7-1-2, Quincy at 7-2 and Othello at 8-3-1.

According to the April 12 Washington Interscholastic Activities Association Ranking Percentage Index, in the 2A category, Ephrata and Othello rank in the top 10. Othello is No. 5 in fastpitch and No. 10 in soccer. Ephrata ranks No. 3 in baseball.

In the 1A category are Royal and Wahluke. Royal took the No. 6 and No. 9 spots in fastpitch and baseball respectively. Wahluke ranked No. 8 in soccer.

The only team in the 2B category from the Basin is Warden, coming in at No. 8 in fastpitch.

Lastly, in the 1B classification, ACH took ranks No. 1 and No. 5 in fastpitch and baseball, respectively.

The Columbia Basin has also had five student athletes named WIAA Athlete of the Week so far this spring. Those five were Othello junior Camryn McDonald, Wahluke sophomore Angel Vazquez-Jimenez, Quincy junior Jorge Nunez and Wahluke senior Abigail Nieves.

McDonald was selected for Week 29 and is on the fastpitch team. According to the WIAA website, McDonald had an excellent week against 2A powerhouses Shadle Park and Selah. In the three games, she batted an outstanding 9-for-11 with 10 RBIs, including one home run, three doubles and three stolen bases, and scored nine runs. On defense, she was lights-out at shortstop with a number of highlight-worthy plays and was part of multiple double plays.

Week 28 was Vazquez-Jimenez of Wahluke track and field. The website states that Vazquez-Jimenez earned a second-place finish in the 3200-meter event at the Best in the Basin Meet in Quincy on March 24. He ran a time of 10 minutes, 54 seconds, going below 11 minutes for the first time in his high school career. He then turned around to run in the very next race, the 4x400-meter relay. According to the website, he was running the final leg of the race. When he received the baton, his team was behind by about 100 meters, but he was able to catch up to his opponents and win a neck-and-neck sprint down the straight by about two meters.

Jorge Nunez was selected for Week 27 as an athlete on the Quincy soccer team. Nunez has been leading the Quincy boys team in goals scored and had a spectacular goal against Ephrata on March 15. He also added three goals against Kiona-Benton on March 19.

For Week 26 was Abigail Nieves of Wahluke track and field. She had an 8-second PR (personal best) in the 400-meter race at a jamboree at Wenatchee High School on March 12. She improved from 1:11 to 1:03 to finish in second place overall.

Rebecca Pettingill can be reached at rpettingill@columbiabasinherald.com.